14 minute read
Cycling Without Age offers virtual trip to elderly
News brief Danish charity ‘Cycling Without Age’ in Singapore goes virtual
Since August, Cycling Without Age Singapore, a charity which takes seniors from nursing homes and senior activity centers for trishaw rides have turned to technology, to continue to give the elderly a chance to explore Singapore despite the restrictions caused by the pandemic.
During the pandemic nursing homes have not permitted visitors and volunteers in order to protect their vulnerable elderly residents so the charity worked with Mind Palace, a social enterprise that develops virtual reality (VR) technology for seniors, to develop a virtual reality trishaw ride. Using a trishaw, they filmed some of the routes the charity used to take seniors on, like those in Admiralty Park, Bishan Park and Gardens by the Bay in Singapore. Since August more than 80 seniors have had the 10 minute VR ride where they through a VR headset sees the view as though they were actually riding the trishaw.
Cycling Without Age was started by Danish social entrepreneur Ole Kassow in Denmark in 2012 and it is now in 35 countries. In October 2016, Singapore became the first country in Asia to open a Cycling Without Age chapter when Danish expatriate Pernille Bussone had a free trishaw, given by a Danish university, shipped to Singapore and started taking seniors on joyrides there.
After Pernille Bussone returned to Denmark, Singaporean social entrepreneur Aaron Yeoh and Danish Marieke Bink carried on the work and in 2018, Cycling Without Age Singapore was registered as a charity. According to general manager Mr Addie Elicano, it now has 10 trishaws sponsored by the Temasek Foundation for its Moving Generations programme.
Source: The Straits Times
News brief The Norwegian School in Singapore now offers learning to children from the age of 3 years old
The Norwegian School in Singapore (Norskeskolen i Singapore) as a new initiative now offers classes in Norwegian to young children from the age of 3 years old.
Their target group is Norwegian children between 3-15 years old living in Singapore who want to maintain and develop their Norwegian language skills alongside their international schooling.
According to The Norwegian School in Singapore’s website, the results of a survey conducted earlier in the year showed a big interest in providing learning to the younger learners aged between 3-7 years old and this has now been made a possibility. Divided into groups based on age and whether Norwegian language is an active language at home or not, toddlers, children and youth students will also learn about the Norwegian culture, traditions and anniversaries.
The Norwegian School in Singapore has offered complementary teaching in Norwegian in collaboration with committed teachers for a number of years and helped thousands of children develop their language skills since the school was established in 1983.
The school was previously located at OFS, NEXUS and SAIS but has now moved to The Norwegian Seamen’s Mission Singapore (Sjømannskirken i Singapore) as based on the parent survey, this location was preferred. Parents are also provided with more flexibility in regards to time and place for the children’s classes and private lessons are also available.
Registration for school start opens in January 2021 and The Norwegian School in Singapore will open its doors 23 January onwards.
Registration form and more information is available here https:// www.norskskolenisingapore.com/
Innovation Norway shares Norway marine aquaculture experience with Vietnam Commercial Counsellor, Director of Innovation Norway, Arne-Kjetil Lian export at a cost high price. That is necessary, towards sustainable development, to create a breakshared some insights with Lao Dong through for the marine or marine as Vietnam is planning to develop aquaculture industry. the country’s marine aquaculture on Arne-Kjetil Lian said that nature an industrial scale. has been very favorable for both From experience and lessons Vietnam and Norway because of learned from the development of their long coastline with waters full of Norway’s marine aquaculture, Arne- fish and the two countries have a traKjetil Lian said that Vietnam needs dition of fishing as well as farming. He to step by step shift to industrial is responsible for bridging Vietnammarine farming with the participa- ese and Norwegian businesses and Commercial Counsellor, Director of tion of large-scale enterprises using said that marine farming is one of the Innovation Norway, Arne-Kjetil Lian. modern technology, in which focus three areas he has promoted since Photo: Ta Quang on a few key objects suitable for his appointment in August 2019.
News brief China finds Coronavirus on packaging of imported food from Denmark
The town of Tianjin in northern China has found the COVID-19 virus on a sample collected from the packaging of imported pig trotter, local authorities have announced. The food had been imported from Denmark and the
Due to the H5N8 avian influenza (bird flu) detection in Denmark in recent months, some countries, including Singapore, Japan, Russia, the United and Arab Emirates have temporarily stopped importing eggs and poultry such as chickens from the country. city’s COVID-19 prevention and control headquarters said that authorities detected the novel coronavirus in the sample taken from the packaging in a cold storage unit in Binhai New Area during an inspection. The bird flu has been reportedly spreading in Europe in recent weeks, with wild birds suspected for the spread and similar outbreaks have previously resulted in culling of tens of millions of birds, causing big damage to the poultry industry.
According to a statement by
China has stepped up efforts to block the spread of COVID-19 through imported food. The Ministry of Transport released a guideline in mid-November to prevent the transmission of COVID-19 through cold-chain food imported via roads and waterways.
The imported goods from Denmark did not enter the market and have now been sealed by authorities. A total of 196 samples collected from the packaging of the frozen food and the environment tested negative for COVID-19 and 24 people who had been in contact with the contaminated packaging are under quarantine. They have all tested negative for COVID-19 so far.
Singapore temporarily halts import of egg and poultry from Denmark due to Bird flu
Source: China Daily the Food and Control Administration, the H5N8 type of the avian influenza virus was again recently detected among chickens in a farm in Lovel close to Viborg, Denmark during controls by the Danish State Serum Institute. Authorities reported that around 9,000 chickens on the farm will be culled to prevent the spread of the virus and asked for measures to be taken against wild birds in poultry farms.
According to the World Health Organization, the risk of humans potentially contracting the highly pathogenic H5N8 bird flu virus cannot be excluded, although the likelihood is low.
Chinese movie promotes Finland in new romantic drama
Finland has achieved a prominent role in a new Chinese romantic drama ‘I remember’ which was shot last year in Lapland and Helsinki. The story of the movie is about two colleagues, played by the two young Chinese superstars Angela Yeung Wing (Angelababy) and Hongchi Lee, and their trip to Finland. Their journey in the movie takes them from Helsinki and continues to several destinations in Lapland, such as Rovaniemi, Kemijärvi and Kittilä. Finland’s visibility in the new romantic drama can greatly benefit the Finnish Tourism industry, as the Chinese film industry has been on the rise throughout the 21st century. China has been predicted to leave behind Hollywood in terms of both movie studios and ticket sales and experts estimate that China’s movie market may already be the largest in the world.
The movie has the potential to gain a large audience in China, especially thanks to Angela Yeung Wing who has more than eight million followers on Instagram. She has been ranked as no. 16 on China’s celebrity list 2020 by Forbes China and in addition to Asian film productions, Angela Yeung Wing has also starred in Hollywood movies such as Independence Day, Resurgence and Hitman and Agent 47.
It was reported that Finland and China started negotiations on cooperation in the film industry two years ago. Business Finland confirms in a press release that they welcomed CMC Pictures ‘I Remember’s production company as guests of the Lapland Film Commission and visited the movie locations.
Paavo Virkkunen, Director of Finland Promotion Service at Business Finland says that Finland offers nature and wilderness destinations as well as urban environments, all easily accessible thanks to the functioning infrastructure. The choice of filming in Finland was influenced by the production incentive granted by Business Finland for production in the audiovisual sector. Helsinki Marketing, the City of Helsinki and the Lapland Film Commission were all partners in the production of the movie.
Lapland gains a lot of muchneeded domestic and international visibility from movie and TV production, especially from the CMC Pictures ’I Remember’. The romantic drama premiered in China, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK on 24 December and in Singapore on 31 December.
News brief China’s Xpeng delivers first batch of smart electric cars to Norway
He Xiaopeng, chairman and co-founder of Xpeng Motors with the company’s G3 electric SUV, at the Guangzhou International Automobile Exhibition, in Guangzhou, China, on November 16, 2018. Photo: Bloomberg
The Guangzhou-based company Xpeng Motors will directly deliver 100 G3 SUVs to individual buyers in Norway. It’s the first time the company delivers the Chinese-made smart EVs directly to individual customers in Europe.
The deliveries may open the door for Chinese electric vehicle start-ups such as Xpeng, NOI and Li Auto, to target EV-mature markets and mainland drivers’ growing interest in green cars, after making the list of the world’s most valuable companies. The Tesla challengers, all of which are yet to make a profit, are racing to fine-tune production, churn out new models and increase sales to secure a foothold both at home and overseas.
In a statement on Monday the company said: “Xpeng is actively exploring opportunities in other EV-mature markets with supportive government policies, advanced EV infrastructure and high EV awareness.” Xpeng also plans to launch its P7 electric sports sedan in Europe within the next 12 months
Smart EVs are electric batterypowered cars that use technology to enhance navigation, improve incar entertainment and link up with other cars or mobile devices digitally.
In 2019, Chinese EV maker Aiways became the first mainland company to export smart SUVs to Europe. The company delivered 500 of its U5 vehicles under a businessto-business deal to Hertz Corse, a car rental firm in Corsica, Italy.
Since the middle of the year, other Chinese carmakers such as BYD and SAIC have started selling conventional electric cars in Europe.
News brief Danish Trine Tveen Nielsen received Malaysian Women Leaders Award 2020
Trine Sofie Tveen Nielsen received Malaysian Women Leaders Award 2020 based on her contribution in building a sustainable leadership pipeline, for support and encouragement to gender, diversity and inclusion at work and promoting of empowerment and social change and for her ability to influence policy and strategy and optimal utilization of opportunities and recourses.
Malaysian-Danish Business Council (MDBC) initiated more interactions with members in December through online platforms during the past year. The Executive Director Trine Tveen Nielsen invited corporate and SME members to online oneon-one meetings to learn much more about their company and its expertise, successes and challenges.
On 11 December 2020, Trine Tveen Nielsen had an online meeting with Peter Jakobsen, founder and CEO of Aumada Energy & Technologies (M) Sdn. Bhd.
During the meeting many exciting topics were addressed such as the value of a strong network and belonging to a community to access important knowledge and contacts (especially during the pandemic).
Also topics like the Danish strong values in the form of Green Tech and the flat hierarchy that characterizes Danish and Scandinavian work ethics were discussed. Both are values that Aumada Energy & Technologies (M) Sdn. Bhd stands for.
On 14 December 2020, Rasmus Møller Martensen, Managing
The thank you note from Trine Sofie Tveen Nielsen read:
“I honestly am not sure what makes me most proud. To be awarded and recognized as a woman leader in Malaysia, or being privileged having a job that gives me enough room to unfold my talents (and to make the mistakes I learn so much from).
Whether it is one or the other, I think in the end it is two sides of the same coin. Working in the right posiDirector of AVK Valves Manufacturing Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. met online with Executive Director Trine Tveen Nielsen.
Trine Tveen Nielsen says, “Rasmus took me on a very informative journey, not only through the history of AVK Valves, but also through Malaysia’s water infrastructure, where I was explained the importance of using long-lasting quality elements. It is fascinating how high quality valves and hydrants ultimately creates the most long-lasting water supplies”
“We are pleased to have AVK Valves as a member of the Malaysian Danish Business Community, and support their honorable mission of ensuring the water quality throughout 8 SEA Markets in Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, Brunei, Thailand, Myanmar, Maldives and Sri Lanka!”
Most Danes remember Sunquick from their childhood, warm summer days and fun times. But do you know that since the launch of the Sunquick Concentrate in 1966, today the brand is present in more than 70 countries on five continents, and is also produced in Malaysia in Penang? tion and with the right people as well as working with what you are passionate about, then the framework is well set for recognition.
Therefore, I give much of the credit for this award to my employer and my team, who have made it all possible. Thank you Malaysian Danish Business Council, thank you to the board and all members of our Malaysian Danish Business Community!
thankyou for your support.”
On 15 December 2020 Trine Tveen Nielsen, Executive Director of Malaysian Danish Chamber of Commerce met online with Troels Møller Overby, General Manager of Barkath CO-RO Manufacturing Sdn Bhd.
Sunquick has been marketed in Malaysia for the last 35 years. Barkath Co-Ro has been a member of the Malaysian Danish Business Community for several years, which benefits to other members, as the company generously sponsors beverages at several events.
News brief Helsinki Times launches new Chinese language edition
The Chinese edition of the Helsinki Times can be online.
Helsinki Times will from now on be published in Chinese language in addition to English. The new edition launched 1 January 2021 has been in the planning for more than a year but was delayed due to the global pandemic. China was one of the top five countries of origin of tourism to Finland with a 15% increase in 2019 and the target group for the Chinese edition of Helsinki Times are people interested in Finland and Finish news. Expats, investors, migrants and tourists.
Alexis Kouros, Editor in Chief of The Helsinki Times says, “Our mission has been to inform the nonFinnish speakers globally and locally on news about Finland. English language serves that purpose well, but has its limits. Mandarin Chinese is the world’s most spoken language with 1.1 billion speakers.
Alexis Kouros says the number of Chinese tourists visiting Finland is certainly going to increase after the pandemic is over and that Chinese tourists soon will be the largest language group visiting Finland. The signing of the EU-China trade agreement will also bring more investor interest to the EU and Finland from China. The number of students and immigrants from China is steadily increasing as well.
The Chinese edition of Helsinki Times is launched in collaboration with JimmyQ ltd. JimmyQ has several news articles about Finland in Chinese on the social media platform WeChat with thousands of readers and the WeChat channel will officially be rebranded as Helsinki Times. Helsinki Times is the first and only independent English language newspaper publishing news about and from Finland. Established in early 2007 with a weekly newspaper in print and daily updates of news online. The print edition was discontinued in 2015 but the online edition has continued serving the international community interested in Finland and Helsinki Times has over 370k readers per month.
The Chinese edition of the Helsinki Times can be online.
