The Impact of 4IR Technologies on Venture Creation and Technology Commercialisation: Insights and Exemplars from an Emerging Economy Context

Despite the hype and promise of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies to transform high-tech start-up development in South Africa, a reality check on venture creation and technology commercialisation suggests some disappointing outcomes. Although some semblance of 4IR preparedness manifested in the constitution of the Presidential Commission on the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the convening of the Free State 4IR Summit, and the institutionalisation of entrepreneurial spirit through the Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE) in South Africa, some demonstrable outcomes such as the creation of new technology start-ups, commercialisation of intellectual property through the development of patents, industrial designs, and prototypes are yet to materialise. Drawing on entrepreneurial ecosystems theory, we challenge the monolithic, government-driven approach to 4IR and propose a bottom-up approach in which serial technology entrepreneurs and their local entrepreneurial ecosystems must serve as the main cogs for the exploitation of 4IR technologies to support effective venture creation and the commercialisation of technology innovations. The chapter draws on exemplars of the appropriation, institutionalisation, and domestication of 4IR technologies to provide a techno-infrastructural dashboard that could inform the pipeline of technology venture creation and commercialisation of outcomes. The chapter concludes with some practical implications for improving high-tech venture outcomes.