Danish Draghi-report will fivefold investments in defense research

The government's defense strategy of "buy, buy, buy" should be "innovate, innovate, innovate" to a greater extent when the defense budget increases.

One of the recommendations in a large report on Denmark's competitiveness, which will be presented on Wednesday under the name "Much More Research" at a conference at Christiansborg, is this.

The report was prepared by the think tank Pomus in collaboration with the audit and consulting firm Deloitte and with support from Industriens Fond.

The project is inspired by the so-called Draghi and Letta reports, which last year created a lot of attention about the EU's stagnant position compared to the USA and China when it comes to investments and jobs.

The Danish version has ten recommendations for the Danish politicians who gather in a 2040 strategy, which should "connect research, innovation, technology, and security".

In other words, it should happen by investing a much larger part of the defense budget in research and innovation.

Concretely, 2.5% of defense expenditures should go to research and development, which is a fivefold increase compared to today.

- By allocating 2.5% of the increasing defense expenditures to knowledge, innovation, and technology, we can lay the foundation for building a strong defense industry in Denmark and Europe, says chief economist at Deloitte Majbritt Skov in a press release.

- This need is only strengthened in the light of the hybrid and high-tech threat picture we are facing today.

According to the report, Denmark has the opportunity to "build strong positions and reduce critical dependencies" when it comes to defense and security technologies.

The report also suggests that the green three-party should serve as inspiration for an innovation party. It should be driven by the Ministry of Education and Research, the Ministry of Business, and the Ministry of Defense.

The innovation party should among other things be responsible for allocating the money from the defense budget that is earmarked for research and innovation.

There is also a focus on Danish pension funds among the recommendations.

Authorities should explore the possibility of an agreement with Danish pension funds about at least 2.5% of Danish pension funds being invested in risky technology and innovation.

An increased risk profile would partially solve the challenge with capital flight to the USA, it sounds.

- If we shake things up, there are many opportunities for paving the way for a technology-driven research and innovation culture here at home. We have all the ingredients, but there needs to be a national strategy to collect and utilize them, says Pomus founder Kaare Nielsen.

At the conference at Christiansborg, there were speeches on Tuesday morning from among others education and research minister Christina Egelund (M), business minister Morten Bødskov (S) as well as Italy's former prime minister Enrico Letta, who was behind the Letta report.

/ritzau/

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