This study has been prepared within the UNU-WIDER project on 'Discrimination and Affirmative Action: What have we learnt so far?', which is part of a larger research project on 'Disadvantaged Groups and Social Mobility'.

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Policymakers in many countries have lit on tech-entrepreneurship as an essential element for economic development. To this end, South Africa’s Technology Innovation Agency, with co-sponsorship from the Swiss–South African Joint Research Programme, has run a cross-country tech-entrepreneurial training programme for local tech-entrepreneurs since 2010. This study reviews participants’ assessment of the training programme utilizing the Tech-Entrepreneurship Survey of 2016, designed and administered by the authors. From analysis of the participants’ rich feedback on their motivations for enrolment, the quality of training received and the strengths and weaknesses of the programme, clear indications emerge of what worked and what did not work. This enables the identification of focus areas for tech-entrepreneurship programme owners and policymakers in pursuit of tech-entrepreneurship expansion.

Entrepreneurial activity at universities, especially spin-off formation, has emerged as an important mechanism for accelerating the transfer of technology and knowledge to commercial markets. With some exceptions, such as China, studies on university entrepreneurship have tended to concentrate on the experiences of developed countries. Perhaps because of the lack of a comprehensive database of university spin-offs, studies on experience in South Africa have typically included spin-offs only as part of a broad examination of university–industry partnerships, technology transfer mechanisms or academic entrepreneurship. This study is based on a questionnaire and interview survey of spin-offs at Cape Town and Stellenbosch Universities. The results suggest that the most important reasons cited for spin-off formation are market opportunities and a desire for commercial exploitation of knowledge and experience. As with university spin-off founders elsewhere, funding is regarded as the most significant problem, followed by such factors as recruiting skilled people, lack of facilities, product marketing and time pressure. It is argued that this exploratory study provides lessons and insights that will inform similar, future research on a larger scale.

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