As the first country in the world, Denmark has elevated technology to a foreign policy priority. Specifically, the government last year appointed the world's first Tech Ambassador, Casper Klynge, based in Palo Alto. Casper leads a de facto global 'tech embassy' that spans Silicon Valley, Beijing and Copenhagen. The Techplomacy initiative is based on the realisation that today's tech giants have become extremely influential, some even surpassing nation states in economic muscle and political impact. The Tech Ambassador aims to reinvent the traditional notion of diplomacy by engaging the global tech sector in much the same way we have done other countries for centuries. Several countries and organizations have followed suit with similar initiatives, underlining the urgency of building new kind of coalitions between industry, governments and civil society.
Since 2017, Casper Klynge is the Danish and the world’s first Tech Ambassador. He is located in Silicon Valley with a global mandate and has a team in Copenhagen and Beijing. Before that, he was the Ambassador of Denmark to Indonesia, Timor Leste, Papua New Guinea & ASEAN and the Republic of Cyprus and worked in several senior management positions for the Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the European Union and NATO. Mr. Klynge holds a Master degree in Political Science.
