Entrepreneurial Ecosystems and Sustainable Industrialization: Lessons from BRICS Plus Economies in the Age of Industry 4.0

Despite the growing literature on entrepreneurial ecosystems and Industry 4.0, few studies systematically link ecosystemic dynamics to structural transformation in the Global South; even fewer compare BRICS Plus economies with G7 benchmarks using a unified econometric framework. This study addresses that gap. Its objective is to assess how the configuration of such ecosystems shapes the trajectory of sustainable industrialization, comparing the BRICS Plus group with the G7 economies over 2002–2021, a period determined by the most recent harmonized data available across all panel countries from the World Bank, UNIDO and OECD. Methodologically the study employs a balanced panel applying panel unit root and cointegration tests, Vector Error Correction Models, Generalized Method of Moments estimation and Granger causality analysis applied to manufacturing value added (MVA), GDP excluding manufacturing (GDPNOTMVA), industrial employment and productivity indices. The results indicate a long-run interaction between manufacturing and non-manufacturing output in BRICS Plus economies that is consistent with—though not a direct measurement of—entrepreneurial ecosystem dynamics, whereas G7 economies show no cointegration and only a weak unidirectional Granger causality from non-manufacturing to manufacturing (significant at the 10% level), consistent with post-industrial ecosystemic autonomy driven by AI and knowledge-intensive services. The contribution of this work is threefold: (i) theoretically, it operationalizes entrepreneurial ecosystems as macro-structural outcomes within a unified econometric framework; (ii) empirically, it identifies a systematic divergence between BRICS Plus and G7 ecosystemic regimes; and (iii) for policy, it shows that industrial upgrading in emerging economies depends on the coherent integration of industrial policy, digital infrastructure, and entrepreneurship, rather than on manufacturing scale alone.