At the International Roundtable on SMEs, representatives from academia, business and politics discussed the future of the Mittelstand
Has artificial intelligence already found its way into Mittelstand businesses? How resilient is the Mittelstand in Germany? How are these businesses dealing with financial challenges? These and other questions were discussed today at the International Roundtable on SMEs, where around 23 representatives from politics and business met with international entrepreneurship researchers.
“Addressing the future of the Mittelstand means looking at both the current challenges and the factors that make entrepreneurship attractive, enable successful business succession and encourage the next generations to become self-employed. And since developments are currently similar in many countries, international exchange provides many benefits and inspirations,” explained Prof Dr. Dr. h.c. Friederike Welter (IfM Bonn/University of Siegen) in her introductory remarks.
Risk-taking creates growth opportunities
Although family business owners and owners of SMEs who manage their businesses are more likely than founders in the Mittelstand to operate in high-tech-intensive sectors (10.3% compared with 5.6%) and offer more product or service innovations for the global market, they use artificial intelligence (AI) less frequently, according to Armin Baharian (RKW Competence Centre). Accordingly, more founders in the Mittelstand currently rate their company’s overall growth prospects more positively than they did a year ago than family business owners and owners of SMEs who manage their businesses.
“The data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Germany 2025/26 show that Mittelstand businesses can achieve even stronger growth momentum in the future if their owners integrate artificial intelligence into their business models,” explained the RKW researcher.
Resilience is particularly important for family businesses because of their long-term orientation and their commitment to continuity across generations. However, research conducted by the University of Wuppertal shows that resilience depends not only on the resources available to businesses, but also on their ability to mobilise and transfer these resources. “Family involvement can itself trigger crises, but it can also be an important resource, particularly in times of crisis,” reported Prof Dr. Julia de Groote (University of Wuppertal).
Established forms of financing under scrutiny
In Germany, Mittelstand businesses traditionally finance investment projects through loans from their relationship banks. Prof. Dr Marc Cowling (Oxford Brookes Business School) investigated how many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK have rejected loan offers in the wake of the economic repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic, thereby excluding themselves from the credit market. He also explored, among other questions, how many SMEs in the UK are currently willing to take risks when investing, and whether fintech companies can provide a universal solution. The findings show that small businesses are the most willing to take investment risks. However, businesses’ own rejection of loan offers poses a greater problem than banks rejecting loan applications. This is partly because fintech companies’ offerings are no panacea for resolving financing problems.
According to research by IfM Bonn, promoting networks of female business angels and strengthening connections between female business angels and women entrepreneurs could improve funding opportunities for women-led start-ups. In her presentation, Dr Julia Mokhtar showed that, among 6,575 German start-ups founded between 2014 and 2025, female-led teams received 8.9% less funding than male-led teams. Nevertheless, female business angels were 9 percentage points more likely to invest in start-ups founded by women.
