R&D Transfer and Financing in Emerging Economies: An Exploratory Approach Toward Sustainable Tech-Entrepreneurship

This study examines the direct effects of R&D transfer and the sufficiency of financing for entrepreneurs on Technological Total Entrepreneurial Activity (TechTEA), as well as the mediating role of financing. The analysis employs a variance-based structural equation modeling approach (PLS-SEM) to explore causal relationships among the variables. Data are drawn from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), specifically the National Expert Survey (NES) and the Adult Population Survey (APS), covering 26 emerging economies. The findings reveal that R&D transfer has a significant positive effect on the sufficiency of financing available to entrepreneurs. However, R&D transfer shows a significant negative direct effect on TechTEA. In contrast, the sufficiency of financing has a positive impact on TechTEA, acting as an inconsistent mediator that neutralizes the negative direct friction of R&D and unlocks its positive indirect potential. The study demonstrates that Resource-Based View (RBV) principles operate in a fundamentally distinct manner within emerging economies. Raw technical knowledge (R&D transfer) and capital injections (sufficiency of financing) are not self-sufficient drivers of high-tech ventures in developing contexts. From a sustainability perspective, this dynamic suggests that institutional and ecosystem frictions can impede the Triple Bottom Line, as technological potential struggles to achieve the economic viability required for long-term societal impact. Consequently, achieving genuine ecosystem sustainability requires policymakers to shift away from isolated, supply-side resource injections. Future strategies must pivot toward comprehensive institutional governance, friction-reduction mechanisms, and cross-sector regulatory coordination to enable technological ventures to successfully scale and survive over time.