Innovation by Design in Scandinavia

Over spring break I visited two of the world's most design-centered cities - Copenhagen and Stockholm - with a group of 25 classmates. Aside from the usual spring break fun and shenanigans, we visited a handful of uniquely innovative companies, including large diabetes and healthcare company Novo Nordisk, the wave-making music start-up Spotify, the"IDEO of Europe", DesignIt, and the constantly-changing telecommunications company Ericcsson. We learned about innovations in sustainability, in healthcare service delivery, in social music, and so much more. I was impressed with these companies, and wondered why the region is particularly dense with successful innovations. After some thought, I boiled it down to three things:

1) Community: Denmark and Sweden are intensely community-driven places; they think of themselves as cohesive tribes. This communal attitude is evident in their social-centered governments, in their approach to public transportation, and in their approach to business innovation. When your perspective is first and foremost aligned to community, you can not only excel at collaborative work process (the birthplace of innovation, contrary to the single man innovator myth), but you can also better envision products and services that scale.

2) Environment: Over and over again, we heard about environment and sustainability - in Copenhagen many spoke of "blue and green" - the well-known (and well-marketed) goal of preserving both the oceans and landscape of their country. Scandinavians are particularly atuned to their physical surroundings, and how their actions and output affect it. This awareness of environment and context is a very important part of creation.

3) Anti-Authority: One nuance that I wasn't expecting is that in many ways, despite their heavily socialist government, Scandinavians are very anti-authority; the way they see it, if there is something that as a community they want to change about their society, they should rise together and do it. This is possible and works, particularly in Denmark, because the nation is very small and so change can be agreed upon and implemented relatively quickly. However the sentiment permeates not just politics but culture and worklife in general, and Scandinavians are definitely not afraid to challenge ideas and the critique the status quo. This is of course an essential part of creative destruction and innovation.

Overall, a very enlightening trip that left me and my classmates with much to ponder...

The group meeting with CEO and Founder of DesignIt (image courtesy of DesignIt)