What Does Business Actually Need from Culture?
By Invest in Aalborg Ambassador, Allan Mørch - CEO of AskCody
Culture Is a Competitive Advantage-driven innovation
Ask 100 people what culture means. Fifty will pause and say "ummm..." The other fifty will give fifty different answers — mostly about concerts, art, or experiences you can buy a ticket to.
But if Aalborg wants to become European Capital of Culture in 2032, we need a better answer than that.
We tend to think of culture as entertainment. Something you attend and come home from. Something other people organise. And when culture feels lacking, it's always someone else's fault.
The truth is, culture is much bigger than that. It's a city's story, its identity, its sense of self. It's what makes a place worth living in — and worth talking about proudly to outsiders. It's the glue that holds a city and a region together.
The real question is not whether Aalborg can put on a good show in 2032. The question is what we want to build for the future.
The war for Talent
Today, companies compete for people before they compete for customers. Talented people don't just pick a job. They pick a life. A city. An environment.
So ask yourself honestly: why would a skilled specialist, a startup founder, or an international executive choose Aalborg over Amsterdam, Berlin, or Aarhus? And why would their family agree to come along? Salary alone won't cut it. A nice waterfront won't either.
People move for meaning. Community. Identity. Safety. A vibrant city centre. International connections. Experiences throughout the year. A story they want to be part of. A city without culture can function. But it won't attract.
Culture is not a decoration. It's infrastructure — for attracting talent and keeping communities together. It's fuel for growth. Modern work is flexible and mobile. Many knowledge workers can work from anywhere. That means the city itself has become part of the employment offer. Cultural venues, public spaces, events, and shared experiences build relationships across industries. They create the kind of informal connections that spark new ideas and collaborations — often in ways that planned meetings never could. Cities with strong culture have high social trust. And trust, in business terms, is what reduces friction and speeds everything up. We need more of that.
If talent is the most important resource of the 21st century — and it is — then we cannot keep treating culture as an afterthought, funded with whatever budget is left over. What if we flipped that thinking entirely?
Belonging Is a Business Asset
Companies cannot build belonging on their own. They need the city to help.
When employees feel proud of where they live, when their families are happy, when they feel genuinely rooted — retention goes up. That sense of belonging is one of the most underrated competitive advantages in business.
Aalborg already has a strong hand to play internationally: world-class university, low cost of living compared to other European cities, high quality of life, and direct global connections through its port and airport. That's a compelling package.
Culture is the ingredient that makes it all stick.
Shared stories, shared experiences, shared pride — these create the social fabric that makes people stay. Not just in their jobs, but in the city.
A Capital of Culture bid is not an event project. It must not become one. It's an identity project. A platform for Aalborg's future story — and for the long-term competitiveness of every business in the city.
So the question is: do we see culture as a cost, or as an investment in what comes next?
From Managing the Present to Building the Future
Innovation happens at the crossroads of different disciplines. Culture challenges how we see the world. Business turns those ideas into something real and scalable. When art, technology, entrepreneurship, and academic knowledge meet — and Aalborg has one of the world's best universities — new things emerge. The question is whether we want to be a city that manages the status quo, or one that dares to push boundaries. Could Aalborg be seen as a global model for the city of the future?
A Capital of Culture can be the catalyst for exactly that. But only if the project is bold enough to stand for something new — and positions Aalborg clearly on the world stage. 2032 cannot be a celebration of the past. It must be a springboard for the future. If nothing is permanently different after 2032, we thought too small.
This Goes Far Beyond Tourism
I'll be honest — I know nothing about the tourism industry. But I do know that culture reaches far beyond it. A software company like AskCody can attract international developers more easily when the city has a strong cultural identity. We are now Canadian-owned, but we chose to stay in Aalborg. A manufacturing or tech company holds on to specialists more easily when those people's families are happy living here.
A consultancy can use the city's cultural life as part of how it presents itself to clients.
Companies follow people. People follow quality of life.
Culture creates value for every industry — indirectly, but powerfully. It's part of a larger, connected ecosystem.
Three Shifts We Need to Make
To use culture as a real driver of Aalborg's future — not just as a series of events — the Capital of Culture project needs to shift how we think.
From project to strategy. Culture should not be a calendar of events. It should be woven into how the city attracts talent, builds its international brand, and connects education with business and entrepreneurship.
From experience to value creation. We need to talk openly about how culture creates value. How does it enable new partnerships? Drive innovation? Make Aalborg more attractive to international workers? Strengthen communities? Shape our shared story?
From a sector issue to everyone's responsibility. Culture is too important to leave to the cultural sector alone. Businesses need to engage. Universities need to connect. Institutions need to open up. And individuals need to feel personally committed — not just as audiences, but as participants. In every workplace, "bad culture" is always someone else's problem. But culture is the sum of all our choices and behaviours. It belongs to all of us.
Culture shouldn't just be funded and managed. It needs to be owned — by the city, by businesses, and by every individual in it.
Meaning and Direction
In a world where technology is accelerating everything, we need something that gives us direction and a sense of purpose. That's what culture does too. But meaning without direction is just idealism. And direction without meaning is just efficiency — hollow at its core.
Aalborg needs both.
The real question is not whether we can win the Capital of Culture title. The question is what we do with it. Do we want one impressive year? Or do we want to build something that permanently changes what Aalborg is?
The biggest risk is not falling short. The biggest risk is doing something that changes nothing at all. If we are serious, culture must not just be experienced. It must influence, create growth, and shape the city's future. And it must involve everyone — not as spectators, but as builders.
Because then culture isn't something we watch or point at.
It's what we build the future on.
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Meet Catharina Vinter Engqvist
Head of Foreign Direct Investments, Invest in Aalborg
Catharina and the team at Invest in Aalborg are your one-point-of contact to the City of Aalborg. We can help you with information, facts and network that make all the difference when you consider Aalborg as your business destination.
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