Track: Business Management
Abstract
The fourth (4th) industrial revolution is fast becoming part of modern operations for businesses globally. Technology based enterprises find themselves in a position where they have to potentially adapt to this new arising phenomenon. In certain instances, technology-based enterprises undergo the business incubation process in order to be able to better equipped when entering various industrial operations and markets. This paper seeks to reflect the services provided by business incubators in South Africa (SA) and verify their relevance to assist and prepare technology-based firms for the 4th industrial revolution. The article is a conceptual paper which examines existing literature on the subject matter and providing narrative on the status quo. The results are presented in a thematic manner and reflect gaps for the introduction of potentially new services that can be provided by technology business incubators in SA. These are concluded in an introduction of new a term, one we call incubation 4.0. This term seeks to explore the integration of physical, biological and digital aspects to service provision by business incubators, which are of course central and core to the 4th industrial revolution phenomenon at large.