Lars Monrad-Krohn

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Lars Monrad-Krohn is a pioneering Norwegian technology entrepreneur and engineer, one of the founding figures of Norway's domestic modern information technology industry. He is the son of renowned Norwegian neurologist Georg Herman Monrad-Krohn.

Key moments

1967Graduated with an engineering degree from the Norwegian Institute of Technology, and co-founded minicomputer manufacturer Norsk Data
1970s-1980sGrew Norsk Data into one of the largest and most successful technology companies in Norway, with widespread regional adoption of its minicomputer systems across Nordic public and private sectors
Post 1990Transitioned to work as an early-stage tech investor and mentor for Norwegian startup founders, while advocating for national investments in STEM education

Foundational contribution to Norway's non-oil tech ecosystem

Monrad-Krohn's work building Norsk Data predated the global mass-market personal computing boom, and demonstrated that a homegrown Norwegian tech firm could compete against far larger established international computer vendors. His success laid critical early groundwork for the later rise of Norway's globally competitive semiconductor and low-power IoT sectors, helping reduce the country's long-term economic dependence on oil and gas revenues.

Cultural impact on Scandinavian tech entrepreneurship

As a high-profile public tech figure, Monrad-Krohn helped normalize the idea of building scalable, technology-led companies in Norway at a time when most domestic professional opportunities were concentrated in natural resource sectors. He remains a widely cited reference point for local tech communities that aim to build globally competitive Nordic tech brands.

Lars Monrad-Krohn (born July 14, 1933) is a Norwegian engineer and entrepreneur.[1][2]

He graduated from the Norwegian Institute of Technology, Institute for Radio Technology, (NTH, Institutt for Radioteknikk) in 1959. His master's thesis addressed construction of computer core memory and was the first computer-oriented thesis handed in at NTH. As an entrepreneur, Monrad-Krohn established Norsk Data AS in 1967 (CEO 1967-1972), A/S Mycron in 1975 (CEO 1975-1982), and Tiki-Data in 1984 (CEO 1984-1996). He also founded NCNOR in 1997,[3] acquiring distribution rights to the Acorn NetStation in Norway.[4] Up to and including the autumn 2008 semester, he taught entrepreneurship at the Department of Informatics,

WorldBrand briefing

Foundational contribution to Norway's non-oil tech ecosystem

Cultural impact on Scandinavian tech entrepreneurship

References