What opportunities does artificial intelligence (AI) offer Mittelstand enterprises – and what are the risks? Prof. Dr Dr h.c. Friederike Welter (IfM Bonn/University of Siegen) talked about this issue in early September at the Rhineland Savings Banks’ strategy conference in Bonn.
According to the IfM President, a big opportunity lies in the large amounts of data available within SMEs, as well as in their close proximity to customers. She also noted that, measured by the return on their innovation expenditure, these companies are demonstrably highly innovative. But the biggest risk is that Mittelstand enterprises will merely stand by and watch the potential applications of AI without utilising them themselves: "If AI widens the productivity gap further, a technological lag will turn into a creditworthiness problem – and a creditworthiness problem will turn into a structural problem for entire regions," she warned. She therefore encouraged the bank representatives to support SMEs in financing AI applications.
