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Ongoing institutional research

IfM Bonn's research activities focus on the preparation of scientific studies on SMEs and expert reports on current economic policy issues. In addition to institutionally funded projects, third-party funded projects are also carried out, often in cooperation with other institutes. The studies can be thematically assigned to the four research areas "SME data pool", "Framework conditions conducive to SMEs", "SMEs (in) the future" and "Resilience in SMEs".

Please visit the following websites for further details (in German).

3 Results

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Mittelstand (SMEs) and society / government | 2023 Women as founders and entrepreneurs - causes of persistent under-representation

Women have always been underrepresented among the self-employed. Although their share has risen steadily in parallel with their increasing participation in the labour market, it has remained static at one-third for some time. The self-employment rate, which indicates the propensity of the labour force to be self-employed, fluctuates over time. However, the gap between the self-employment rate of women and men has hardly narrowed.

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Mittelstand (SMEs) and society / government | 2023 Determinants of regional start-up activity - what makes a region strong in start-ups?

Research into regional start-up ecosystems has made considerable progress in recent years. Nevertheless, it is still not fully understood how the various elements of the start-up ecosystem affect start-up activity, what interactions exist between the elements and what influence start-up activity has on these elements over time.

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Mittelstand (SMEs) and society / government | 2023 Impact of climate-friendly regulatory measures on the Mittelstand

The economic framework conditions are currently being adapted with the aim of limiting climate change. In Germany and at the EU level, corresponding regulatory projects are being initiated, and others are being planned. These projects also affect Mittelstand enterprises.