This introduction to the Special Issue discusses the status quo of the literature on digital entrepreneurship and small business highlighting the neglect of a significant and growing segment of the small business sector whose futures have remained under-researched: self-employed workers and freelancers who run one-person or micro-businesses and home-based businesses that operate largely or exclusively online. Their digital futures and opportunities cannot be understood in simple dichotomies such as ‘necessity’ versus ‘opportunity’ or ‘use’ versus ‘non-use’ of digital technologies. Instead, it is suggested to consider the spatial and social contexts of these more ‘ordinary’ or ‘unexceptional’ businesses. Attention is drawn to networks and social capital and their spatial embeddedness in complementing human capital. Concepts of the second digital divide, digital generations, entrepreneurial bricolage and spatial proximity and city ecosystems are discussed to make suggestions about the possible digital futures of small businesses and entrepreneurial opportunity.

本期《特刊》的引言探讨了有关数字企业家精神和小型企业的文献的现状，着重强调了对小型企业部门的重要且不断增长的部门的忽视，而这些部门的未来仍处于研究不足状态：自雇工人和自由职业者大型或专门在线运营的个人或微型企业和家庭式企业。他们的数字化未来和机遇无法通过简单的二分法来理解，例如数字技术的“必要性”与“机会”或“使用”与“不使用”。相反，建议考虑这些更“普通”或“非凡”业务的空间和社会环境。注意网络和社会资本及其在补充人力资本中的空间嵌入性。