Why Denmark's Innovation Strategy Won't Work Anywhere Else

Three illustrators stood on chairs, doodling frantically on a long banner in a theater lobby as a television screen broadcasted a talk from within. Not any ordinary event, this was the inaugural 2012 TEDxCopenhagen. The illustrators animated the lectures of various speakers.

Copenhagen has historically been on the edge of innovation, but it's becoming increasingly more so. For a country with a population of less than 6 million people, Denmark marks the map as an international pioneer, from its post-war design history to its contemporary leadership in the knowledge economy.