IfM Bonn News

A total of approximately 360,000 new businesses were founded in Germany in 2024. Around 258,000 of them were started in the commercial sector, 7,040 in agriculture and forestry, and 94,900 in the liberal professions.

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Only around a third of craft businesses in North Rhine-Westphalia currently use artificial intelligence. The main applications are chatbots, voice assistants, translation software and image and video editing.

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IfM-Bonn research indicates that the optimal level of bureaucracy has been greatly exceeded. This applies not only to the time and cost requirements, but also to the psychological costs and the knock-on effects on investment and competitiveness.

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Children of self-employed parents are often self-employed later in life. Dr. Stefan Schneck presented this in his presentation at the EBES Conference in Rome in mid-April.

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"According to a recent short survey, the vast majority of managing directors in Germany’s Mittelstand sector are calling on the new federal government to ensure reliable and consistent policy frameworks – and to refrain from excessive regulatory steering. This applies in particular to the ecological …

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Approximately 360,000 new enterprise were founded in Germany in 2024. It’s not just the number of start-ups that matters for an economy, but also their long-term survival.

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What future trends will the construction industry see? When will the upturn in construction come?

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What kind of jobs are at a research institute? How do the different departments work together? What qualifications are needed for the various profes-sions? The 14-year-old schoolboy Gabriel found answers to these questions on this year's Boys' Day at the Institut für Mittelstandsforschung Bonn.

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The risk of insolvency increased across most economic sectors in 2024, but the highest rate was in the transport and logistics sector: 14 out of 1,000 VAT-liable companies filed for insolvency.

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Is there a link between the level and due date of debts and the economic resilience of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Europe to flooding?

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A follow-up study from the machinery and equipment manufacturing sector shows that the overall burden of regulation (including EU bureaucracy) is higher for small companies than the gross return on sales.

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The number of small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) using artificial intelligence (AI) procedures increased by 8 percentage points to 19% between 2023 and 2024.

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Policymakers have initiated a number of measures in the past to reduce the bureaucratic burden on companies. Nevertheless, entrepreneurs perceive an increase in requirements.

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Die Anzahl der Existenzgründungen überstieg in 2024 in den meisten Wirtschaftsabschnitten die Anzahl der Schließungen. Ein solch‘ positiver Saldo, der eine Zunahme im Unternehmensbestand anzeigt, war im vergangenen Jahr vor allem im Bereich der wissenschaftlichen, technischen und freiberuflichen …

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The current SME barometer of the IfM Bonn shows that the gap between the economic situation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Germany and in other EU countries grew significantly during 2024.

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