By Lee U-Wen

DENMARK may pride itself on being one of the most innovative countries in the world today, but there is still much that this tiny Scandinavian country can learn from Singapore - particularly in the field of education.

This was the view of Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, who said that he was keen to explore how to bridge the education systems of the two nations in a way that would benefit both parties.

'When I look at the Danish system, I think we have more or less the most expensive Primary school system in the world,' he said in an interview at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) on Saturday at the tail end of his two-day visit to the Republic.

Mr Rasmussen - who last came to Singapore in November for a brief stopover to meet Apec leaders here - noted that Singapore's own education system has allowed students to achieve 'extremely good results in a very cost effective way'. Denmark, on the other hand, produces creative thinkers but they tend to score only average marks when it comes to hard knowledge.

When asked by BT for his country's secret to being innovative, the 45-year-old leader again attributed it to the strength of Denmark's schools and how the system strikes a balance between knowledge and skills.

In the latest Global Innovation Index report released last week, Denmark - with a population of 5.5 million - was ranked fifth among the 132 countries covered. Singapore was placed seventh in the report compiled by global business school Insead.

'Honestly, I don't know what's our secret. There's no recipe,' said Mr Rasmussen. 'We allow our kids to be children, to play, and I think that's one of the reasons why Danish students turn out to be innovative thinkers and they act in a very self-confident way. It's also perhaps due to the fact that,in the Danish labour market, everybody participates, both males and females.'

Another area of cooperation between the two countries that has produced fruit is in green technology, evidenced by the three-year-old partnership between Danish firm DHI and NTU to form the Water and Environment Research Centre and Education Hub. The facility conducts research on waste management and environmental impact assessment.

Mr Rasmussen, who was accompanied on his trip by the Danish Permanent Secretary of State Karsten Dybvad and the Danish Ambassador to Singapore Vibeke Lauritzen, said that Danish firms are keen to invest in Singapore because of the favourable business climate here.

'Your government has established a system of close and trustful cooperation between the business environment and the public sector in Singapore, and from that we can learn a lot,' he said.

Mr Rasmussen also had private talks with Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam during which he discussed Singapore's growth strategies. He then met a group of Danish business leaders working in Singapore. There are some 1,300 Danish expatriates working here, one of the largest communities among European Union economies.

The Republic was Mr Rasmussen's first stop on a three-country tour of Asia. He will also visit Tokyo and Seoul.

This article was first published in The Business Times.