Darja Reuschke was invited by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to speak about “What can SMEs and entrepreneurs do for our cities?” at an international and high-profile event in Trento, Italy, 15-16 April 2019. The event that was organised by the OECD Trento Centre for Local Development in collaboration with the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation, Sweden and the Autonomous Province of Trento aimed specifically at policy recommendations to national and local governments.
The key message of her talk and the panel discussion was that small businesses have the potential to contribute to the compactness of cities and the liveliness of suburbs. She presented striking evidence that micro business owners work close to where they live and much closer than the general working population does. Both commuting distance between work and home and the proportion of homeworking is higher amongst micro business owner (those with up to 9 employees) than the working population, based on an empirical study in the City of Edinburgh. This proximity was observed in all parts of the City.
Please find here a video of the presentation and the presentation slides
http://www.oecd.org/cfe/smes-cities-trento-conference-videos-presentations.htm