Norwegian startup moved to Denmark - and found a key advantage

Norwegian startup Blinktroll, which develops defence technology for training purposes, has relocated to Odense after initially launching in Norway as a small, two-person project.

The move, which took shape following a visit to Denmark in late 2023, placed the company inside one of Europe’s more established robotics environments.

According to CEO Kenneth Skorpen the decision was less about location and more about entering a system that was already in place.

- The whole ground of opportunities seemed more mature, Skorpen says. 

- We simply felt we had to go where the growth opportunities were the best.

Blinktroll had started as a small garage project. As the company began to gain traction, the question was no longer just how to build the product, but where the surrounding conditions would support the next phase.

That led them to Odense.

The natural choice

Through Odense Robotics, the company was introduced to what Skorpen describes not as a cluster, but as a functioning system. One with direct connections between companies, manufacturers, investors and financing.

- They convinced us that it wasn’t just a collection of companies, but a functioning system with direct connectivity, he says. 

- Moving here just felt like the natural thing to do.

For a hardware-focused company, that structure matters. It reduces the distance between development and production, and makes it easier to move between partners without having to build every relationship from scratch.

Being inside the EU added another layer. Logistics, transport and dialogue with partners became more straightforward, and early contact with FMI, the Danish acquisition organisation, helped clarify how the company could engage with relevant parts of the market.

The company arrived in Odense with two founders sharing a small apartment in the city centre. Today, it employs 26 people across 11 nationalities.

- The recruitment has been fantastic for us, Skorpen says. 

- Especially the student workers from the university who have seamlessly entered into full-time positions and are doing fantastic work.

Instead of building a talent pipeline from the ground up, Blinktroll stepped into one that already existed. Students moved naturally into full-time roles, and the transition required little adjustment.

In that sense, recruitment was not just a function, it was part of the ecosystem.

Industry relations

The same pattern appears in how the company describes its interaction with others in the environment. According to Skorpen, companies in Odense are unusually open in offering support.

- Companies in Odense will actually call you up and ask how they can support you in any way, he says.

That openness reinforces the structure the company entered: One where access to knowledge, people and partners is already organised.

Skorpen also points to a broader business culture that supports this way of operating. 

- People here are actually very good at running businesses, he says, noting Denmark’s ability to generate strong economic output without relying on natural resources.

Seen from the outside, Blinktroll’s move can still be described as a relocation.

In practice, it was a decision to place the company inside a system that was already working - where at least one critical piece, access to talent, did not have to be built, but was already there.