It was a remarkable anniversary: at the beginning of December this year, our Institute for Economic and Cultural Geography hosted the 50th International Seminar in Economic Geography (ISEG). We invited Davide Parrilli (Bournemouth University, UK) as a guest lecturer. He chose the title “SMEs and Regional Economic Development in a Global Scenario” for this ISEG. This topic is not only highly relevant for companies, regions, and economic activities, but also highly topical due to the increasing global power of a few very large corporations and the resulting dependence of entire economies from their technologies and data. This has changed the role of small and medium-sized enterprises. Prof. Parrilli was able to explain this very clearly to the more than 30 master's students from our institute and other faculties who participated in the five-day event, as the results of the teaching evaluation impressively demonstrate. Davide Parrilli introduced various theories and illustrated complex relationships, particularly between innovation and regional development, in a very clear manner using photos and maps, also in direct collaboration with the students during the daily seminar part of the ISEG.
On Tuesday evening, the students enjoyed dinner together with Davide Parrilli. In a nearby pub and relaxed atmosphere, the students took the opportunity to get to know our guest outside the lecture hall.
We would like to thank all the students who made this an interactive seminar with their exciting contributions. We would also like to thank Davide Parrilli for his interesting lectures and insights into his work.
