A “tech discovery journey” to Copenhagen and Malmö, 7 days, 3 exciting discoveries

3 innovation and digital news in 1 minute. Every Monday. Episode 273

News 1. Science Park with blooming tech ecosystem

Lyngby Science Park is located in the North of Copenhagen and offers an ecosystem around the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). Companies such as Microsoft with its Quantum Materials Lab are located here. Also The Retail Tech Lab, it exhibits retail innovations in cooperation with the university. Within the DTU Science Park there are more innovation labs (e.g. Sky Lab, Future Box) for professors and students. A self-driving vehicle from Linc is tested that shuttles visitors around the park. Opinion: First impression: very American-like campus. A great discovery: the atmosphere in the labs is bursting with developer spirit. The ecosystem created in Lyngby offers a lot of space for new innovations. The close cooperation between university, start-ups and companies is the perfect prerequisite for new ideas.

A centre of innovative ideas and technology outside of Copenhagen. Definitely worth a visit!

News 2. Self-checkout with bluetooth tags

Seen in many shops in CPH: the checkout solution called Zliide. It provides an innovative solution for self checkout by using anti-theft tags which can be opened and removed via bluetooth through the Zliide app. Zliide is based in Aarhus and has partnerships with several fashion brands to test the technology in their stores, e.g. Weakday. Opinion: Scan&Go or Pick&Go are examples that have already been tested or implemented by retailers. Zliide is an example of a new type of self-checkout concept, so far in the fashion sector.

However, it remains exciting whether this could also be transferred to other sectors.

News 3. Small excursion over to Malmö and Polestar shines

Polestar, a result of a joint venture between Volvo and Geely, will open a 230-square-metre store in Malmö in Spring of 2022. Huge displays in the shop windows are already advertising the opening in the middle of Malmö’s pedestrian zone. The electric sports car manufacturer is based in Gothenburg with total funding of $550m. Opinion: Never seen or heard anything of Polestar. But after discovering the flagship store in Malmö, the start-up definitely seems to be up to something special.

We remain curious about the opening of the Polestar store and continue to observe Polestar’s progress.

Author is the research team (10 trend scouters) at specialist Space and Lemon Innovations (Hamburg, Berlin) — scouting innovations in main tech geographies, AI development, virtual worlds and e-commerce. Excerpts of research are gathered here in original weekly news since 2016, always with an opinion — no re-write of TechCrunch.

Come back next Monday and share your opinion.