Denmark and Japan to develop floating wind turbines, police warning over scam tickets, new Danish-made online infobot and more news this Wednesday.
Denmark to help Japan build floating wind turbines
Denmark and Japan are set to announce a partnership on floating offshore wind, with a signing ceremony taking place in Tokyo during the visit of a business delegation headed by King Frederik.
The Deputy Director of the Confederation of Danish Industry (DI), Troels Ranis, will sign a partnership agreement with Japanese energy organisation Flowra at Wednesday’s ceremony, news wire Ritzau writes.
Henrik Stiesdal, a former CTO at Siemens Wind Power and now founder of his own climate tech company Stiesdal, helped broker the deal.
“Electricity generation from offshore wind is one of the most important tools we have to combat global climate change,” Stiesdal said to Ritzau.
“If countries like Japan can demonstrate effective, robust solutions for power generation, then it’s really worth the effort in the broader battle against climate change,” he said.
Existing technology restricts wind turbines to installation in waters no deeper than 60 to 70 metres.
Floating offshore wind, where the turbines float on a structure in the water instead of being fixed to the seabed, is being developed as a solution.
“If we can develop floating offshore wind that works at any depth, the global potential for offshore wind increases tenfold,” Stiesdal said.
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Police issue warning over fake festival tickets on social media
Denmark’s summer concert and festival season is not far away, and police have warned young people on the lookout for tickets to also be alert to scammers.
Fraudsters take advantage of sold-out festivals by offering fake tickets for sale, hoping to trick eager buyers, police special unit NSK (National Unit for Special Crime) said.
Consumers should avoid buying tickets from private sellers in the lead-up to the festival season, NSK advises.
Ticket fraud related to festivals and other events has increased in recent years, police figures show. The total of 975 reports of ticket fraud in 2022 rose to 1,820 in 2023, and had climbed to 2,033 by 2024.
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Police typically see a surge in reports over the summer when tickets for events like the Roskilde Festival sell out.
“Besides the obvious financial loss for victims, they’re also left out in the cold, unable to attend the event they thought they’d bought a ticket for,” Kresten Munksgaard, head of Prevention and Analysis at NSK’s National Centre for Cybercrime, said to Ritzau.
Danish encyclopaedia wants chatbot for access to reliable information
Denmark’s national encyclopaedia, Lex, plans to develop a new chatbot that will allow users to interact with the content of the national encyclopaedia.
Commercial foreign AI chatbots often provide inaccurate, unverified answers that reflect bias and show limited understanding of Danish contexts, according to Lex, which has teamed up with Aarhus University to develop a Danish alternative.
Through the Danish chatbot, users will be able to engage directly with content from the national encyclopaedia without having to share personal data, Lex said in a press statement.
The chatbot will ensure access to “quality-assured” knowledge from Danish researchers and experts which is “free from bias”, Lex said
“It will allow children to get simple explanations of complex topics, enable members of the public to compare information, and educators to search for help,” Lex editor-in-chief Erik Henz Kjeldsen said in the statement.
“All of it will be clear sourced and presented in a safe environment,” he added.
Novo Nordisk sees shares tumble after competitor breakthrough
Shares in Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk, maker of diabetes and weight-loss treatments Ozempic and Wegovy, fell sharply yesterday following the announcement of a successful clinical trial by competitor Eli Lilly.
Novo Nordisk shares were down about eight percent in morning trading on the Copenhagen stock exchange, as trading resumed after the Easter holidays.
The drop followed US competitor Eli Lilly’s announcement on Thursday of successful clinical tests for its type 2 diabetes and obesity treatment orforglipron, which sent its stock soaring 14.3 percent.