Small business and SME
are vital economic entities that bolster the foundation of our national economy.
According to a 2019 national business survey
businesses with fewer than 10 employees accounted for
85% of all businesses nationwide,
share of small businesses
and the number of workers in small businesses made up
40% of the total number of workers in Korea.
the number of employee of the small businesses
However, the COVID-19 crisis experienced by our society since 2019 has demonstrated how vulnerable our small businesses are to external shocks, and at the same time, how crucial they are as economic entities.
The COVID-19 crisis seems to be somewhat alleviated.
Sadly, a bigger crisis is looming for small businesses.
Current changes in big data and AI-based technologies, and the socio-economic changes these technological changes will bring, will further weaken small businesses.
However, studies on the specific impact of these socio-economic changes on small businesses are scarce,
and our society and policies are only focused on how we can acquire better AI and big data technologies in the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Facing this necessity,
our research center has established research goals with the following vision and mission.
VISION
A society where everyone can benefit in the big data/AI era.
MISSION
Supporting policy establishment for small businesses that are marginalized in advanced technology and industries through interdisciplinary research.
Our research center aims to deeply understand the small business economic ecosystem in the era of big data and AI, and to propose policies for small businesses and medium-sized enterprises, with a vision of a society where everyone can see the benefits of technological advancement.
Especially in the fields of
data science,
logistics and transportation,
and
employment and labor,
we have established
an interdisciplinary
research strategy.
01
We study
the effects on small businesses
by the introduction of
robots and the use of platforms
that influence the supply
side of small businesses,
and changes in logistics due to
new concept aircraft and
autonomous vehicles
02 changes in consumption patterns, tourism demand, and transportation systems that will affect the demand side of small businesses
03 and the impact of changes in urban spatial composition on small businesses.
04 Lastly, based on these studies, we aim to propose policies for activating the local economy based on small businesse and to develop a small business policy platform for establishing data-based small business and SME policies.
01
We redefine the spatial
unit of analysis based on
the geo-location of stores,
rather than the conventional
administrative district unit,
and then integrate various
big data into the spatial unit.
02
Using the merged data,
we analyze the demand-side
and supply-side effects
that the future logistics
and transportation systems could
have on the local economy
based on small businesses.
03
Based on this, we track changes in
various macroeconomic
indicators of the region,
to see the structural transformation
of the local economy
that is brought about by
the introduction of new transportation
and logistics systems and
various types of robots.
In addition, through
interdisciplinary research,
we examine the impact of policies
on small businesses and SMEs.
