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CBS Tech Day is an annual student-led technology conference held at Copenhagen Business School (CBS) in Frederiksberg, Denmark. Founded on 18 November 2021 by students in the BSc in Business Administration and Digital Management programme, the event held its inaugural edition on 21 April 2022 at the Deloitte Auditorium, Solbjerg Plads.^[1][2] As of 2026, it has been held five times and markets itself as "The Biggest Student-Led Tech Conference."^[3]

Each edition is organised around a central theme addressing the intersection of technology, business, and society. Themes have progressed from digital fundamentals (2022) through sustainability (2023), democratic governance (2024), and energy systems (2025) to European digital sovereignty (2026).^[1] The event has featured speakers from the European Commission, Danish government ministries, the French diplomatic corps, and organisations including NVIDIA, Novo Nordisk, Deloitte, BCG, and Google.

Sign-up registrations grew from 639 at the inaugural edition to 1,100 for the 2026 edition, a 72 percent increase over five editions.^[4] The event format expanded from a single-room lecture programme in 2022 to a hybrid model comprising a daytime technology fair, panel debates, a closing keynote, and an afterparty at Søpavilionen. The 2026 edition relocated to CBS Ovnhallen at Porcelænshaven, the first venue outside the Solbjerg Plads campus.^[3]

CBS Tech Day is governed by an 11-person Board of Directors, six of whom are members of the original 16-person founding team. Co-founders Sam Afzali and Thomas Rald Kaspersen remain on the board, while Daniel Westermann Strandby, originally a member of the Communications team, serves as Board Chair.^[5][6]

CBS Tech Day traces its origins to the student association of the BSc in Business Administration and Digital Management at Copenhagen Business School's Department of Management, Society and Communication. No precursor event existed.^[4] The initiative emerged from within the student association, where Sam Afzali served as Vice President.^[2]

The project officially launched on 18 November 2021 at a founding kick-off meeting.^[4] On 2 January 2022, Afzali submitted a formal written request to CBS Events & Room Allocation to host an event called "TechDay" at the Deloitte Auditorium (SPs01), Solbjerg Plads 3. The request designated the BSc in Business Administration and Digital Management student association as the hosting organisation and proposed setup hours of 13:00–16:00.^[2]

The founding request set out a tagline for the event:

What are the digital students of tomorrow? A day of unravelling the challenges and opportunities for the future demands of digitalization.

^[2]

The event concept centred on enabling students to "question the digital agenda of tomorrow." Each segment was to be moderated under the concept of "The Curious Student", positioning the student perspective as the primary frame through which speakers and topics would be engaged.^[2]

The Steering Committee established three content principles governing all segments, as documented in the founding request:^[2]

1. The segment must be about the future.
2. The segment must be about Digitization or Tech.
3. The segment must engage the students and get them involved.

The founding team comprised 16 members organised across a formal governance hierarchy:^[7]

Steering Committee (6)
  └── Project Manager (1)
        └── Project Team (9)
              ├── Logistics & Content (3)
              ├── Partnerships (4)
              └── Communications, Marketing & PR (2)

Of these 16 founding members, six remained on the CBS Tech Day Board of Directors as of 2026, representing approximately 38% continuity over four years. Daniel Strandby, who served in the Communications, Marketing & PR team in 2022, became Board Chair by 2026.^[5][6]

The January 2022 room request included a list of 15 target speakers, reflecting the scope of engagement the founding team sought. The list was presented as initial outreach targets, not confirmed participants.^[2]

Alongside the speaker wishlist, the founding team submitted a proposed programme timeline (referred to as Appendix One) that differed substantially from the final programme as delivered on 21 April 2022. The original design envisioned an evening-format event beginning with doors at 16:00.^[8]

The original programme included segments with Danish intelligence services, a cryptocurrency discussion, and representation from Meta, Microsoft, and the American Chargé d'Affaires. The final programme diverged from this design in timing, structure, and speaker composition, though Margrethe Vestager,listed in the speaker wishlist, did participate in the inaugural edition.^[2][8]

The first edition of CBS Tech Day was held on Thursday, 21 April 2022, at the Deloitte Auditorium (SPs01), Solbjerg Plads 3, Copenhagen Business School. Networking areas were set up in the first- and second-floor canteens. The event recorded 639 sign-ups.^[9][4]

The theme was "Discover the next inspiring talks in the Future of Digital." The format comprised in-person attendance with a livestream component, consisting of individual talks rather than panel discussions.^[9]

Nine speakers appeared at the inaugural edition. Vestager's session, co-moderated by CBS Professor Mikkel Flyverbom, required coordination with PET and the Copenhagen Police. The final programme differed substantially from the original Appendix One timeline.^[9][8]

The inaugural edition was held on 21 April 2022 at the Deloitte Auditorium (SPs01), Solbjerg Plads 3. The event attracted 639 sign-ups and was organised under the theme "Discover the next inspiring talks in the Future of Digital". It was broadcast via livestream in addition to its in-person format.^[9]

The 2022 programme consisted of individual talks rather than panel discussions. The event opened with a welcome by CBS President Inger Askehave, followed by the first substantive session, "A Europe Fit for the Digital Age", delivered jointly by Margrethe Vestager and Mikkel Flyverbom. Vestager's participation required coordination with Politiets Efterretningstjeneste and the Copenhagen Police Department.^[9][2]

The four substantive sessions addressed: digital entrepreneurship, enterprise digital transformation (Novo Nordisk), retail banking under digitalisation (Nordea), and quantum computing's societal implications (Niels Bohr Institute). The closing session was delivered by Marianne Dahl of BCG. Networking took place from 20:00 to 21:30. No afterparty was held.^[9]

The sign-up figure of 639 represents the baseline from which the event grew by 72% to reach 1,100 sign-ups for the 2026 edition.^[4]

The second edition was held on 23 March 2023 at Solbjerg Plads. Organised under the theme "Technology and Sustainability – The Problem and The Solution", the event attracted 772 sign-ups, representing a 21% increase over 2022. The 2023 edition introduced two structural innovations retained in all subsequent editions: the CBS Tech Day Fair and a panel debate format replacing the individual-talk structure.^[10]

The programme followed a two-part structure:

1. CBS Tech Day Fair (11:00–15:00): A four-hour fair featuring company and organisation booths.
2. Auditorium programme (15:00–19:00): Two structured panel debates, a standalone keynote address, a break, and a closing networking session.

The 2023 edition was the first CBS Tech Day to feature two sitting government ministers: Marie Bjerre (Minister for Digitalization) delivered the opening, while Lars Aagaard (Minister for Climate, Energy and Utilities) participated as a panelist. Bjerre returned to open the 2024 edition as well.^[10]

CBSWire, the student-run news outlet at CBS, covered the event.^[11] These changes collectively mark 2023 as the edition in which the event's durable format was established.

The third edition took place on 4 April 2024 at CBS Solbjerg Plads, utilising the SP Entrance Hub for the fair and the SP.S01 Auditorium for debates. The edition attracted 848 sign-ups (+10% year-on-year). The theme was "Democracy 2.0", focused on data privacy, government surveillance, digital decentralisation, and democratic governance.^[12]

The 2024 edition featured several notable firsts:^[12]

• Marie Bjerre opened CBS Tech Day for the second consecutive year, the only minister to have opened more than one edition.
• Henri Verdier (French Ambassador for Digital Affairs) represented the first instance of foreign diplomatic representation on a CBS Tech Day panel.
• Mikkel Flyverbom appeared for a third consecutive year (2022–2024), the highest individual recurrence.
• The afterparty at Søpavilionen was the first off-site post-event social programme in the event's history.

The fourth edition was held on 3 April 2025 at the SP Entrance Hub and SP.S01 Auditorium, CBS, attracting 920 sign-ups (+8.5% year-on-year). The theme "Powering Tomorrow" addressed the intersection of energy systems and artificial intelligence.^[13]

NVIDIA's Rasmus Bisgaard marked the first appearance by a major global technology corporation headquartered outside Europe. Nicolas Devictor continued French diplomatic representation for a second consecutive year. Nadia Carlsten delivered the first CBS Tech Day keynote focused on national AI infrastructure, Denmark's Gefion supercomputer.^[13]

The fifth edition was held on Thursday, 26 March 2026, at CBS Ovnhallen, Porcelænshaven 24A, Frederiksberg, the first edition staged outside the Solbjerg Plads campus and the largest venue in the event's history. The event ran from 14:00 to 20:00.^[3]

Pre-event sign-ups reached 1,100, the highest figure in the event's history, a 20% increase over 2025 and a 72% increase over the inaugural 2022 edition. Registration was administered through Eventbrite with free admission.^[3][4]

The theme "Who Gets to Own the Future" centred on European digital sovereignty. Two panel debates were announced:^[14]

• "Who Gets to Own the Future?" , Europe's position in the global digital landscape
• "Is AI Solving Problems , or Just Repackaging Them?" , critical perspectives on AI's practical impact

The 2026 theme follows the event's trajectory of increasingly geopolitical framings: from technology-as-opportunity (2022) to technology-as-responsibility (2023–2024) to technology-as-structural-force (2025–2026).^[1]

Recurring organisations across editions include BCG (2022, 2023), Deloitte (2024, 2025), Novo Nordisk (2022, 2025), and France through diplomatic representation (2024, 2025).^[1]

Source: Founder input (Sam Afzali); sign-up figures have not been independently corroborated by published sources.^[4]

Total growth (2022–2026): +461 sign-ups, a 72% increase over five editions.^[4]

The 2022 edition was organised by a 16-person team under a three-tier governance structure: Steering Committee (6 members) → Project Manager (1) → Project Team (9 members across Logistics & Content, Partnerships, and Communications). This structure was purpose-built for the inaugural event and reflected the organisational norms of a student association project.^[7]

By 2026, the organisation had transitioned to a standing 11-person Board of Directors, indicating a shift from project-based to institutional governance. The precise date and intermediate governance arrangements (2023–2025) are not documented in available sources.^[5]

Source: Board of Directors screenshot (founder-provided).^[6]

• Copenhagen Business School

• Official website
• Board of Directors
• CBSWire coverage

Category:Copenhagen Business School Category:Recurring events established in 2022 Category:Annual events in Copenhagen Category:Frederiksberg