Denmark has 1,249 AI companies, with startups driving growth

A new mapping has identified 1,249 Danish companies where AI is a central part of the business. It was carried out by Aalborg University Business School, AI Denmark and the analysis platform RankmyAI, and it shows strong growth in firms that develop and sell AI-based products and solutions.

Half of the companies were founded in 2020 or later, and 57.5 percent have at most ten employees. The firms work in areas such as consulting, development of AI tools, health, industry and data analysis.

Agnieszka Nowinska, associate professor at Aalborg University Business School, says the debate about AI often centres on which jobs the technology could replace. In her view, the results show that AI is also a new growth engine in Danish business life.

The researchers say it is crucial that the smaller companies get better opportunities to grow. Professor Jacob Rubæk Holm, also of Aalborg University Business School, says access to skills, capital and markets must be secured so that more of the small firms can scale. The researchers also say that public and private organisations should become better at demanding new AI solutions.

The mapping will be used going forward to study how the companies develop and which jobs they create. For Denmark, the findings point to a young, small-company-dominated AI sector, and they frame its future growth as dependent on funding, talent and customers willing to buy its products.