The Oresund region of greater Copenhagen and south Sweden
attracts foreign investment for a variety of reasons. Attractions
include its multilingual and highly productive workforce; a
sophisticated marketplace; stable currencies;
excellent infrastructure; and proximity to big
and growing European economies.
The strongest sectors here, according to
business watchers in Denmark and Sweden
are bio- and nanotechnologies – lured by
the Medicon Valley cluster of science parks
– plus automotive and ICT. But an emerging
star, according to Douglas Almqvist at
inward investment agency Project Skåne, is
clean-tech, the label that is applied to a broad
range of emerging energy technologies which
includes bio-energy, second-generation
ethanol, wind and solar. The biggest Swedish
wind farm, Lillgrund, is in Oresund.
Food development is another fizzing sector.
Coca-Cola, attracted by qualified workers
and plenty of high-spending consumers,
tests product for the European market here,
as does Samsung (yes, it is in food services,
too). Other players from South Korea, China
and Japan are checking things out, informs
Maria Olofsdotter, director of the Oresund
Food Network, a promotional body.
Across sectors, the foreign roster is long:
Microsoft, Mercedes-Benz, Nokia, L’Oréal,
Biogen Idec, Bayer, Eli Lilly, Motorola, and
Japanese pharmaceutical Yamanouchi, are
all converts. In fact, in Denmark alone the
foreign contingent is responsible for 14% of
the private sector jobs and 20% of the added
value, according to the Danish Ministry of
Economic and Business Affairs.
The regional concept crystalised around the
2000 opening of the Oresundsbron (Oresund
Bridge), the two-track rail and four-lane road
structure across the Oresund strait. While
the structure, Europe’s longest combined
road and rail bridge, gives Sweden wider
and swifter access to Kastrup, Copenhagen’s
international airport, the transit hub throws
up economic opportunities across the
Nordics, observes Mariano Davies, president
of the British Chamber of Commerce and
Import Union in Denmark. The body has 200
British members doing business here.
The volume of rail and car traffic over the
bridge is also growing, propelled by cheaper
real estate and lower auto taxes on the
Swedish side: the situation has been called
“villas and Volvos.” Indeed, thousands of
Danes have moved to Sweden – roughly
25,000 are expected to move there by 2010
– and continue to work in Copenhagen.
Bridge passage is seamless: no passports are
required, and there are commuter tax credits.
Income tax is determined by which side of the
bridge you work on; marginal and corporate
rates are roughly the same.
In terms of foreign investors, there aren’t
long lines at the border to enter Oresund
simply because it is called a region, or to
exploit Danish tax-offsetting schemes for
foreign high-earners. Overseas companies are
here because it makes business sense, pure
and simple. Still, the prospect of those villas
and Volvos can’t do any harm.
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