Helge Sander has been appointed Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation
At the appointment of the new Danish government today, the Mayor of Herning, Helge Sander from Denmark's Liberal-Democratic Party (V), was appointed Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation.
At the appointment of the new Danish government today, the Mayor of Herning, Helge Sander from Denmark's Liberal-Democratic Party (V), was appointed Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation.
Helge Sander, a journalist by profession and aged 51, has for the last four years served as Mayor of Herning. In the preceding fourteen-year period, Helge Sander represented the Ringkjøbing County Constituency in Parliament, where he held a series of executive offices.
The Ministry of Information Technology and Research has now been renamed the Ministry for Science, Technology and Innovation.
For the Ministry of Information Technology and Research (now the Ministry for Science, Technology and Innovation), the government's reshuffle of ministerial jurisdictions means that its domain now extends to the universities (research and education), industrial research, and technology and innovation policy.
The remit for this jurisdiction is to forge closer links between trade and industry, centres of research and education, and to strengthen coordination in pursuance of industry and research policy.
The creation of the Ministry for Science, Technology and Innovation reflects the Government's mission to strengthen the growth potential and the competitiveness of Danish society in the knowledge economy. A precondition for the capacity to pursue a long-term and cohesive policy on national research, technology and innovation was the consolidation of political responsibility for these fields under a single ministry.
The necessity of establishing a new ministry was emphasised most recently in the Report from the Danish Research Commission published on 18 September of this year:
"The increased emphasis on research-based education, research and innovation also requires that the organisational cohesion among these policy areas be considerably strengthened." (Report from the Danish Research Commission, Volume 1, Summary).
"The organisational cohesion of the three policy areas: research-based teaching, research and innovation [is] to be strengthened." (Report from the Danish Research Commission, Volume 1, Society's investment in research).
For further information, please contact Allan Boldt.
