Copenhagen Launches Free Digital Training to Close Tech Skills Gap

Copenhagen is spending big on digital literacy, with city-run libraries, a new Villum Foundation-backed centre, and the national Ultra:bit project all pushing free tech training and critical thinking skills. The goal: ensure the city’s 600,000-plus residents, from schoolchildren to seniors and refugees, can navigate an increasingly digital world. But the rapid rollout has reignited long-standing questions about screen time, data privacy, and the risk of widening inequality even as access expands.

The urgency stems from Copenhagen’s transformation into a tech juggernaut. In 2025, the city ranked 16th globally and third in Europe in the Global Tech Ecosystem Index, driven by fintech and AI startups that raised over $6.1 billion. With that growth comes pressure to equip everyone, not just the tech elite, with the skills to participate safely. Yet at the same time, Denmark’s national education policy has banned mobile phones in schools and restricted social media for under-15s, signalling a tension between embracing digital tools and protecting young people from their downsides.

Free courses and ethical dilemmas

Public libraries across Copenhagen now offer free access to LinkedIn Learning’s 16,000-plus online tech courses, covering Python, AI basics, and data analysis. Walk-in "Datahjælp" and "IT-café" sessions provide one-to-one help with MitID and basic Office skills, helping bridge the gap for those who lack confidence or devices at home. ReDI School of Digital Integration, operating at Bygmestervej 10, runs free courses for women with refugee or migrant backgrounds, including its "Computer for everyday life" class held Wednesdays from 17:30 to 20:00.

But the ethical questions are not academic. The sheer volume of free platforms, from LinkedIn Learning to the government-backed EMU portal, raises concerns about data harvesting and algorithmic targeting of vulnerable learners. The EMU portal, run by the Ministry of Children and Education, provides mandatory teaching materials on media literacy, digitalisation, and cyber security. Critics point out that requiring children and adults to use proprietary digital platforms creates a dependency on private tech companies, some of which have faced scrutiny over privacy practices.

Balancing access and autonomy

A major effort to address these tensions is the Ultra:bit project, funded by a DKK 25 million grant from the Villum Foundation, running from 2025 to 2029. It distributes 3,600 resource kits to 800 schools, teaching years 1-6 pupils how to critically navigate digital mechanisms. The initiative also includes teacher training and parental engagement, an acknowledgment that digital literacy cannot be a classroom-only affair. However, some parents and educators have questioned whether more screen-based learning is the right response to screen addiction. Denmark’s national school ban on phones suggests policymakers share those doubts.

Separately, the Villum Foundation has granted DKK 50 million to establish a new knowledge centre dedicated to digital technology understanding among primary and secondary students. Over five years, it will focus on “constructive and critical co-creation of digital technology”, a phrase intended to signal that students should be creators, not just consumers, of digital content. Yet the centre has yet to launch, and many are watching whether it will address the ethical governance of AI, algorithmic bias, and the environmental cost of digital infrastructure.

For now, the practical advice for Copenhageners is straightforward: there are free, well-regarded resources available, but use them with awareness. Library IT-cafés are a good first step for anyone struggling with MitID or basic computer skills, while ReDI’s courses offer a supportive environment for women from refugee and migrant backgrounds. Ultra:bit kits are already in 800 schools, but parents can ask their child’s school about the programme. The new Villum-backed centre is expected to provide more structured guidance on the ethical dimensions, but until it launches, the responsibility falls largely on individuals and educators to ask hard questions about what the tools they use are doing with their data, and whether more screens are always the answer.