Territorial Review Copenhagen - Region Hovedstaden

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fair list of actions to be taken, but it is not always clear what the urgent
priorities are. They are comprehensive, in that they mention all the elements
that could possibly bring their vision closer, but are not necessarily holistic.
Although ―you can have it both‖ might express neatly the sentiment of many
people in Copenhagen and could be a viable strategy to combine several
policy aims, there are policy trade-offs in certain areas. One of these tradeoffs
is maintaining a welfare state (with correspondingly high taxes), versus
fostering a more entrepreneurial city (and country). In many cases, these
trade-offs are slightly more subtle, in that the accumulation of policy goals
may dilute political attention and funds from the key determinants of
Copenhagen‘s competitiveness, such as the attraction of highly skilled
labour. Becoming the environmental capital of Europe, for example, may be
a laudable goal, but its relevance for attracting highly skilled foreign labour
will be limited. Recent campaigns to attract international businesses and
tourists do not preclude the attraction of highly skilled foreign labour, but
they can be of only modest importance if they are not explicitly and
simultaneously geared towards that goal. Stimulating creative sectors in
Copenhagen may be a way to make Copenhagen more attractive, but it is not
clear that the stimulation package has been designed with the demands of
highly skilled foreign labour in mind. Finally, although the overall visions
formulated are ambitious in scope, they are less far-reaching in their actual
targets. A global instead of a European benchmark might have expressed
more vision.
A key challenge for Copenhagen is the shortage of highly skilled labour,
as was argued in Chapter 1. Although this is mentioned in the different
strategies, it is not clearly identified as the force that should drive the
region‘s main initiatives. As mentioned above, strategies for solving the
shortage of skilled labour should focus on making better use of the current
population, such as getting students to work earlier, making better use of
immigrants‘ capabilities, but also by attracting highly skilled foreigners.
Competition for these highly skilled foreigners is intense and can be
considered global. The ambition to be the most attractive metropolis in
Northern Europe is somewhat modest, considering the global scale of flows
of highly skilled labour. The strategic visions do not explicitly celebrate the
innovative effects of cultural diversity, as for example Toronto has done in
its economic competitiveness strategy. The following sections will focus on
the main sectoral issues mentioned in these strategies, in order to assess the
implementation of the strategies for the metropolitan area.