All Things Nordic #2
Scandinavia and Nordic Countries Weekly Digest
“All Things Nordic” is your Scandinavia and Nordic Countries weekly digest
The Danish art of ‘Techplomacy’ Four years ago Denmark was the world’s first country to appoint a Tech Ambassador to Silicon Valley. Has this move made any tangible differences to Denmark’s relationship with tech? (Verdict) Denmark might have not been able to regulate big tech in the ways it would have liked but it has, however, improved the country’s tech capabilities and investments. Furthermore, for a country of its size, Denmark has had a positively disproportionate role in regional and global discussions on how to better regulate big tech.
Iceland tried a shorter work week When Covid-19 pandemic hit companies around the world, researchers in Iceland were already conducting two trials of a shorter work week involving about 2,500 workers (more than 1% of the country’s working population). (Time) The experiment was an “overwhelming success”, as workers were able to work less, get paid the same, while maintaining productivity and improving personal well-being. The Icelandic research has been one of the few large, formal studies on the subject.
2021 Norway x New York Norwegian designers meet American Brands once again: from lamps to furniture, the results were well worth the wait. (Design Milk) Pieces created for Norway x New York include, among others, lamps by Vilde Hagelund for West Elm, Bjørn van den Berg for Matter Made and Runa Klock for Souda. Tables by Jenkins&Uhnger for Dims, Kaja Dahl for Areaware and Stine Aas for Tortuga; a bench by Jonas Stokke for Bestcase.
A Finnish sculptural series of electricity infrastructure The Helsinki-based studio Virkkunen & Co has completed a sculptural series of electricity infrastructure in Imatra, Finland. (Dezeen) The five pylons in white steel are dotted across a protected national landscape close to a historical hydropower plant in the Imatra Rapids - a site that was the starting point of Finland's main electricity grid in the 1920s.
Sweden has a problem: gangs The killing of popular Swedish teen rapper Einar has heightened “outrage” over gang violence in Sweden: organized criminal gangs have intensified shootings and even bombings, mostly in predominantly immigrant suburbs of large cities such as Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmo. (Forbes) Eighty per cent of shootings happened in a “criminal environment” in disadvantaged neighborhoods, according to a study by the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention. Last year, Sweden’s National Police Commissioner Anders Thornberg stated that the emergence of “vulnerable areas” was a result of Sweden’s “failure,” due to failing schools, feelings of exclusion, unemployment, and a lack of adult role models.
Visiting Greenland A visit to Greenland creates memories that will last a lifetime, as it stands out from any other trip in the world. (The Travel) Greenland is a country shrouded in arctic mystery and steeped in tradition: from the culture to the food, and even the very traditional lifestyles of those who live off the land, the experience will be humbling.
Atlantic Airways and the Faroe Islands Atlantic Airways unveiled its schedule for the coming months (Aviacionline) and it will once again connect the Faroe Islands with different points in Europe, after almost two years of having suspended services due to the health crisis. After the Edinburgh (EDI) route that returned on October 7, its next destinations will be Paris/Charles de Gaulle (CDG), Gran Canaria (LPA), Barcelona (BCN), and Palma de Mallorca (PMI).
From The National.com - Politics: Scandinavia offers a model for a new kind of British federalism. The Nordic Council is the official body providing the means of governmental cooperation, with 87 members elected by its constituent parliaments to represent the various political parties of the member states (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden) and the associate members (the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and the Åland Islands). The council elects a president and is supported by a secretary general and secretariat. The countries also have an intergovernmental Council of Ministers, with ministers for Nordic cooperation, agriculture, the environment, health and education.