Cases
Bavarian Nordic Headquarters
Highly qualified employees
Biopharmaceutical company Bavarian Nordic decided to locate its headquarters in Kvistgård, Nivå in 2003. Management agrees that the establishment process was smooth. The production approval, the permission to build production facilities and so forth was made easy by local authorities, and the company is inclined to stay for many years.
The company's location is advantageous due to ample opportunities for attracting highly qualified employees who live close to the area or in the area itself. In addition, Bavarian Nordic finds itself among like-minded people: around the company there is a cluster of other companies working in the same or related fields.
The much sought-after employees often change their jobs and find employment with these other companies:
"This means that you may lose employees to the other companies, but it is an advantage to all of us. The result is highly qualified and experienced employees," says Rolf Sass Sørensen, Bavarian Nordic's Vice President, IR and Communications.
The location in Kvistgård is also beneficial because of the well-developed infrastructure. It is close to the motorway, Copenhagen airport, Copenhagen city and Sweden.
"This was a critical parameter when we chose our location," says Rolf Sass Sørensen.
Between 10 and 15 per cent of the company's approximately 125 employees in Kvistgård are people from abroad. At international level, this is true of more than 50 per cent of Bavarian Nordic's employees. Among the company's staff are Germans, Swedes, Americans and people from Eastern Europe.
Bavarian Nordic has operations in Germany, the US and Singapore and develops, produces and markets vaccines for the prevention of infectious diseases. Bavarian Nordic is of Danish origin, but the company serves a global market and the Danish share of the market is insignificant. Kvistgård is the company's commercial-scale manufacturing site and the sales team is also administered from Kvistgård.
International Centre for Creativity, Innovation and Sustainability
Sustainable development in design, architecture and industry
Denmark, and Scandinavia in general, are at the forefront of environmental issues and the Øresund region is endeavouring to be a pioneer in this field. Northern Zealand is a favourable location for the International Centre for Creativity, Innovation and Sustainability, ICIS.
The centre was established in 2001 by Karen Blincoe and offers educational programmes on innovative and sustainable development and on how this may be incorporated into the fields of design, architecture and industry.
Qualifications in environmental issues, design and architecture are of a high standard in Denmark and Scandinavia. Therefore ICIS attracts people not only from the Øresund region but also from the rest of the world.
The infrastructure around ICIS in Hornbæk, in the municipality of Helsingør, is advantageous in that it is close to the Danish capital Copenhagen, Copenhagen airport, the Øresund region, Sweden, the rest of Scandinavia, the EU and the Baltic countries.
"We've had a great deal of support from the municipality of Helsingør," says director Karen Blincoe. "The municipality and Frederiksborg County have supported us financially in connection with a Master Class that we have developed in cooperation with Lund University in Sweden."
"We've also enjoyed good cooperation with locals, who provide the facilities where our programmes take place," adds Karen Blincoe.
Another course is a professional development programme for designers that helps them broaden their understanding of international relations, enhances their employment potential and their understanding of business, develops their leadership potential etc.
Several international environmental institutions are located in Copenhagen, the so-called ‘Environmental Capital of Europe,' and many environment-related and sustainability-related initiatives and educational facilities are located in Scandinavia. ICIS is part of Scandinavia's long-standing practice of environmental education in a multi-disciplinary, international context. The centre employs three people full-time and 3-5 people part-time.
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