Once, in Aarhus, I attended an exhibition of modern art. One of the exhibits consisted of a million white Lego bricks, and visitors were invited to build whatever structure they wanted. There were dozens of skyscrapers and towers, crazy constructions towering upwards. The Museum Director told me that when the same exhibition appeared in Switzerland, all the Lego structures built by the Swiss visitors were only one storey high.

This may have something to do with the fact that the Swiss have more than enough mountains while the Danes have none. But I prefer to see it as symbolic. It seems to me that Denmark, this fl at but dynamic little country, is full of aspiration, with a mind-set determined to reach for the sky – or to Conquer the World!

Centuries ago, the Danes set out to conquer the world but on reaching the United Kingdom they found life so comfortable that their desire to conquer diminished – or, perhaps, they found Anglo-Saxon women rather special. They were eventually driven out by the jealous Scots though not before leaving behind a considerable amount of genetic material.

Which they are still doing but with much more fi nesse – Denmark continues to spread its seed throughout the globe today as the world’s leading exporter of frozen sperm.

The modern-day Vikings seem to have realised the futility of force.
      Instead, they’ve adopted the ancient Chinese Tao philosophy: Do not try to conquer the world with force, because force only causes resistance.
      So the Danes of today are taking a softly, softly or – as I think one might say in Denmark – a hyg geligt, hyggeligt approach. This works much better. Resistance is replaced by a warm reception.
      And if you’re going to conquer, do it nicely. Examples of success may give us clues as to how to get on with conquering:
      The Chinese do it inscrutably, dominating exports in many areas by disguising their goods as expensive Western brands.
      The Spanish, in the spirit of the Conquistadors, have set out to become a global leader in making paper and cardboard boxes.
      The Indian sub continent, with its huge population of well-educated people trained in the English language, has already seized a huge slice of the Information Technology communications pie.
      America dominates the world of fast foods with Mc- Donald’s – not, unfortunately, part of my clan, or I might now be relaxing on a beach in the Bahamas! When setting out to ‘Conquer the World’, the wouldbe conqueror needs to defi ne which ‘world’ he wants.

The weapons of world-domination no longer include axes, broadswords and fearsome dragon ships.
      So, what weapons can Denmark bring to bear and in which arena?
      Everyone knows about Danish bacon, Danish pastries, Danish blue and, of course, Danish beer, though sales of all four may be suffering because of current diet ary fads. Though was it not Kaiser Wilhelm who said: Give me a woman who loves beer, and I will conquer the world! But the weapons must be continually sharpened and reshaped.
      Denmark has been exporting good design for years, not only in the form of furniture and glass but also in the fi elds of art and architecture. Danes such as Arne Jacobsen planned and executed St Catherine’s College in Oxford in minute detail, from the roof of the chapel down to the teaspoons in the dining hall.
      And Sydney Opera House, that proud icon of all Australians, was in fact the brainchild of Jørn Utzon, yet another Dane, although as is widely known, it was only completed after a considerable amount of sulking and pouting on both sides.
      Perhaps even more importantly, Mærsk is now the biggest shipbuilder in Europe, since the British and German shipyards were wound down. The Martin Group of Aarhus has provided funky lighting effects for pop concerts throughout the world.
      And Denmark is one of the leading exporters of energy through the Vestas windmills.
      But the competition from the rest of the world makes it clear that change is necessary if Denmark is to maintain its position in those fields.
      Just a few years ago, Danish farmers discovered a new source of income. They planted Christmas trees all over the country and were so successful that they called the new crop, Green Gold.
      Unfortunately, the rest of the world has now jumped onto the Christmas-tree wagon and the gold has turned into brass – but I am told that entrepreneurial tree farmers are now making good profi ts from Christmas trees by invading Scotland once more, and growing trees over there – a fi ne example of “if at fi rst you don’t succeed, try, try again!”

Today, Denmark ranks globally as Number Four in spending on Information Technology and Danes have more access to broadband technology than any other nation. They are therefore in an excellent position to take advantage of new innovations in science and technology.
      Danes seem to be naturally endowed with the ability to adapt to their surroundings. To take just one small example: some time ago, my family and I were camping in the Tasmanian outback, and coffee was called for. We had hot water, coffee grounds and fi lter paper but no funnel. The situation was getting desperate, with everyone suffering from serious coffee-deprivation, until one of the younger – and perhaps the best-known – of the Danes with us, neatly solved the problem by seizing a plastic water bottle, slicing it in half and using the neck part as the funnel. There were Scots, English and Australians there, but only the Dane had the right mind-set to put us out of our coffee-misery.

According to the Economist Intelligence Unit of London, Denmark is the Number One place in the world to do business.
      What an opportunity this is for this country! Qualityassurance and business re-engineering have become the focus of thousands of enterprises throughout the world, from universities and government departments, to small accountancy fi rms and travel agents.
      Because there are so few natural resources here, a correspondingly greater reliance has to be placed upon its people, especially now that the modesty and reticence enshrined in the Jante Law no longer applies.
      Nowadays, Danes do not presume that they are nobody, or that they are not as good as anyone else.
      The social responsibility of the Government ensures that nobody will starve or be without medical assistance. This allows everyone to take a chance. And taking chances is what entrepreneurism is all about.
      The education system in Denmark has a very high standing in the world. Three of its universities – Aarhus, Copenhagen and DTU – were recently listed in the top 150 in the world, which is quite remarkable, considering the size of the population.
      The Danish Government is to be congratulated on its attempts to improve its position in these rankings and particularly on its new proposal to encourage, with fi nancial support, all students to take courses outside the European Union.
      In return, many overseas students will come to Denmark, bringing with them not only a rich source of income, but also providing exposure to different cultures and ideas.
      However, I would warn against simply following the new approach of other countries of continuous assessment. The teaching process has become one of preparing students for the next exam rather than for their future. Like everyone else, teachers should be given time to regenerate and learn new skills, to retrain and to adapt to our ever-changing environment – and even to take part in those mass fun runs!
      Education in any country is a major industry employing a large number of qualified people. If science, including mathematics, is to provide the promised advances in our standard of living, we will need an ever increasing number of professionals to satisfy the demands of new exciting developments in fi nance, biosciences and information technology. We must enlist an army of teachers, who rather than being trained in teaching content will be trained in teaching context, echoing the words of Mark Twain, ‘I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.’

The financial cost is a perennial question. On the other hand, George Bush has promised several billions of dollars to train or retrain new teachers in science and mathematics and Ireland, South Korea, India and China are the bulwarks of Education.

Denmark’s future depends on its people. It cannot allow itself to be left behind. This country has an excellent launching platform. Are Danes prepared to make the investment, fi re the engines and reach for the sky? As I mentioned earlier, Danes are switched on to the internet.
      Use that to prepare the coming generations by building new skills in the workforce.
      Above all, teach them to teach themselves, for no matter how well designed, no programme can include all that is needed for life. Investment in science and technology will reap the greatest benefi ts. Denmark has a bit of catching up to do here with countries such as Sweden, which is one of the few European countries approaching the European Union target of spending 3 per cent of its GDP on research. Denmark is about 1.6 per cent.
      With a small but highly educated population, efforts should be concentrated on high-end science. Already nanotechnology and the pharmacological industries are showing signs of creating a better world. There are opportunities here that suit that mind-set of Danes who wish to make things happen now. Already in the hands or minds of Danish scientists is the potential weapon of the combination of computer and mathematical models.

Danes have been described to me as the traders of Scandinavia, continually interacting and sharing with people from other continents and races. In attempting to Conquer the World, we should realise that the world is a sphere and that as we move onwards, we will eventually meet and question ourselves.

In the words of Scotland’s national poet, Robert Burns: “Oh, wad some pow’r the giftie gi’e us, To see oursels aas ithers see us!”

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