Aarhus has a strong tech cluster, which has reached critical mass in terms of tech companies, research, and education. Over the past 20 years, several competitive positions have been established in the fields of cybersecurity, as well as big data and data science, Internet of Things (IoT), and healthcare IT.

Significant growth in the IT and tech industry

The IT and tech environment in Aarhus has seen remarkable growth, with over 15,000 jobs in the IT sector alone, and roughly as many in company IT departments. From 2014 to 2021, the IT industry has grown by 41%. Overall, the IT job market, including the IT sector, IT positions, and those involved in IT education, makes up 12.5% of employment in Aarhus Municipality – that's more than 25,000 positions.

An attractive environment for development departments and rapidly growing startups

The strength and attractiveness of the Aarhus area in the field of IT and tech is also evident from the presence of foreign IT companies such as Apple, Google, VMware, IBM, Tradeshift, and Uber – as well as a steadily increasing number of foreign companies and investors acquiring Aarhus-based IT companies. This was recently highlighted by the acquisition of the IT company Humio for DKK 2.4 billion by the American company CrowdStrike. In the field of cybersecurity, the blockchain company Sepior was acquired by the American company Blockdaemon in July 2022. "Unicorns" (startups with a market value of over $1 billion) like Just Eat, Trustpilot, and Lunar were founded in Aarhus.

In August, Bankdata also announced the upcoming establishment of a development department in North Aarhus with space for 11,000 employees.

Tradition of partnerships between the public and private sectors

The strong position of Aarhus is built on a long tradition of public-private cooperation. This collaboration has, among other things, resulted in the creation of one of the country's largest IT knowledge and innovation environments in Katrinebjerg, Aarhus. Aarhus University has made it one of its strategic focus areas to educate more IT specialists and will undertake significant expansion of a new tech campus in Katrinebjerg in the coming years.

The research park INCUBA is also expanding by 22,000 square meters in Katrinebjerg, Aarhus, designed to accommodate scaleups and development teams from leading IT and tech companies.