The establishment of the Nordic Fintech Center will strengthen knowledge-based innovation and entrepreneurship across Denmark and the Nordics

Copenhagen Fintech and four of Denmark’s leading universities are now rolling up their sleeves and moving from strategy to action. Based on Copenhagen Fintech’s recommendations for a national fintech strategy (“Fintech as a growth engine”), a new and significant initiative is now being launched: the Nordic Fintech Center.

Fintech is no longer a niche. The growing sector has become a central part of the economic infrastructure that drives Denmark’s digital, green, and technologically sovereign economy.

The sector’s next growth phase depends on improving its access to highly specialized talent, stronger research collaborations, and faster development of research-based startups. These are areas in which Denmark and the Nordic region have significant potential to assume global leadership.

A new partnership model for knowledge-based innovation

The Nordic Fintech Center is an ambitious, knowledge-based partnership program led by Copenhagen Fintech in collaboration with the research and entrepreneurship environments at the University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen Business School (CBS), the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), and Aarhus University (AU).

The purpose is clear: to create a strong and coordinated model for collaboration between industry and universities on entrepreneurship, including supporting the scaling of the next generation of Danish and Nordic fintech startups and spin-outs.

Growth in fintech depends on having a workforce with advanced competencies in software development, cybersecurity, blockchain, and artificial intelligence. At the same time, Denmark and the Nordic region face an increasing number of cyber threats and a growing focus on enhancing our digital sovereignty.

The Nordic Fintech Center addresses this by strengthening the connection between pioneering research, industry needs, technological transformation, innovation and entrepreneurship. A core component of the program is a new team of “fintech ambassadors”, based locally at the participating knowledge institutions. Their role will be to build bridges between the fintech sector and the universities through startup incubation, knowledge sharing, matchmaking, and by attracting sector-relevant resources to projects.

A strategic step for Denmark and the Nordics

The Nordic Fintech Center is a direct response to the recommendations from “The National Task Force for Knowledge and Technology Transfer,” which addresses the Draghi Report’s call for concrete European action. The task force calls for a new model in which research institutions position themselves as internationally leading innovation environments and focus on commercializing research and creating more startups.

By linking universities, researchers, students, industry partners, and the fintech startup ecosystem in a more structured and systematic way, the Nordic Fintech Center aims to:

• attract and develop deep-tech and fintech talent
• accelerate knowledge-based innovation and entrepreneurship
• strengthen Denmark’s and the Nordic region’s digital and financial competitiveness
• support sustainable growth and technological robustness

The center launches with four strong university partners but remains open to additional Danish and Nordic knowledge institutions. The initiative is supported by the Danish Board of Business Development.
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Quotes

“Financial technology is a growth engine for Denmark’s tech competitiveness. The Nordic Fintech Center follows our recommendations for a national fintech strategy and aligns with the government’s new focus on knowledge-based innovation and technology transfer. If Denmark and the Nordic region are to maintain and develop a digitally and financially sovereign infrastructure, it will require precisely this type of partnership between research, established industry, and entrepreneurship.” - Thomas Krogh Jensen, CEO, Copenhagen Fintech

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“The Nordic Fintech Center is an investment in the future competitiveness of Denmark and the Nordic region. Fintech is crucial for innovation in financial infrastructure and therefore for the financial sector’s role as a growth engine for the entire economy. We must ensure that the sector has access to the right skills and the latest knowledge. With this initiative, we are creating a strong framework for talent development and innovation that enables us to maintain and expand our position as a robust and dynamic financial ecosystem that supports growth and creates opportunities across the economy.” - Lars Gert Lose, Chair of the board, Copenhagen Fintech

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“Denmark and the Nordic region have a unique potential for research-based fintech solutions, and with the Nordic Fintech Center, universities and companies will now be able to innovate side by side. For the University of Copenhagen, it is important to contribute to society, and we bring expertise ranging from AI and quantum computing to legislation, economics, and ethics, which strengthens innovation, talent development, and Denmark’s global competitiveness. We look forward to the collaboration in the center.” - Eva Hoffmann, Prorector for Research and Innovation, University of Copenhagen

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“Fintech is a field where business understanding, technological capabilities, and insights into regulation and societal development converge. This intersection is exactly where CBS excels. The Nordic Fintech Center enables us to expand our contribution to the ecosystem – both by developing the next generation of fintech talent and by fostering entrepreneurship grounded in strong research and close partnerships with industry.” – Yerrie Kim, Executive Director of Copenhagen School of Entrepreneurship, CBS

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“DTU has one of Europe’s leading ecosystems for deep-tech startups. The collaboration within the Nordic Fintech Center creates opportunities for solutions from students and researchers to be applied in the fintech sector – for example within AI, cybersecurity, and quantum technology. In this way, we lay the foundation for new companies that strengthen European competitiveness.” - Mikkel Sørensen, DTU CEO, DTU SkyFactory / Managing Director, DTU Skylab

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“In Denmark, we have enormous potential for developing the technologies and businesses of the future. But we are also a small country that needs to collaborate across regions if we are to truly build critical mass within highly specialized verticals such as fintech. With Aarhus University’s global strengths in areas such as cybersecurity and cryptology, we have a strong interest in participating in the Nordic Fintech Center. For us, NFC is about cohesion – between technology and business, between industry and entrepreneurship, and cross all regions of Denmark.” - Jonas Brandt, Head of Business Development, The Kitchen, Aarhus University