Since the beginning of the 1990s, systems of innovation have been used as a framework to explain differences in innovativeness between firms, industries and economies at local, regional, national and supranational levels. The main argument behind the discussions around systems of innovation is that firms are increasingly dependent on institutions in their direct environment for their innovativeness and thus competitiveness. In regional innovation systems, firms and other organisations are systematically engaged in interactive learning through an institutional milieu characterised by embeddedness. On the basis of these systems' governance infrastructure, a typology can be developed consisting of grassroots systems (with the highest level of regional embeddedness), integrated systems and dirigiste systems (with the lowest level of regional embeddedness). Based on empirical research on innovation support agencies in Kyongbuk-Taegu and Kyonggi, this paper shows that South Korea is characterised by dirigiste regional innovation support systems with a relatively low level of regional embeddedness. This dirigiste kind of system generates both excessively homogeneous innovation support agencies, which are not sufficiently focused on specific regional economic demand, and horizontal policy coordination problems due to the strong vertical dependencies of agencies in the regions to their sponsors in the central government.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Amin, A. (1999) An institutional perspective on regional economic development, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research , 23, pp. 365-378.
2.
Amin, A. and Thrift, N. (1994) Living in the global, in: A. Amin and N. Thrift (Eds) Globalization, Institutions, and Regional Development in Europe, pp. 1-22. Oxford : Oxford University Press.
3.
Atkinson, R.D. (1991) Innovation policy making in a federalist system: lessons from the states for U.S. federal innovation policy making, ResearchPolicy, 20, pp. 559-577.
4.
Braczyk, H-J., Cooke, P. and Heidenreich, M. (Eds) (1998) Regional Innovation Systems: The Role of Governances in a Globalized World . London: UCL Press.
5.
Butzin, B. (1998) Netzwerke und Regionalentwicklung. Bochum: Geographisches Institut der Ruhr-Universitat Bochum (unpublished manuscript).
6.
Cho, M.-R. (2000) New territorial governance in South Korea: enabling or unabling governance ?Paper presented at the OECD-Workshop on Territorial Policies and Issues, March, Seoul.
7.
Chung, S. (1999a) Korean innovation policies for SMEs, Science and Public Policy, 26, pp. 70-82.
8.
Chung, S. (1999b) Regional innovation systems in Korea. Paper prepared for the 3rd International Corference on Technology Policy and Innovation, Austin, USA, August/September.
9.
Cooke, P. (1992) Regional innovation systems: competitive regulation in the new Europe, Geoforum, 23, pp. 365-382.
10.
Cooke, P. (1998) Introduction, in: H.-J. Braczyk, P. Cooke and M. Heidenreich (Eds) Regional Innovation Systems: The Role of Governances in a Globalized World, pp. 2-25. London : UCL Press.
11.
Cooke, P. and Morgan, K. (1998) The Associational Economy: Firms, Regions and Innovation . Oxford: Oxford University Press .
12.
Cooke, P., Uranga, M.G., Etxebarria, G. (1998) Regional systems of innovation: an evolutionary perspective, Environment and Planning A, 30, pp. 1563-1584.
13.
Dodgson, M. and Bessant, J. (1996) Effective Innovation Policy: A New Approach. London: International Thomson Business Press.
14.
The Economist (1996) In the shadow of the chaebol , 6 July, pp. 63-64.
15.
Edquist, C. (1997) Systems of innovation approaches-their emergence and characteristics, in: C. Edquist (Ed.) Systems of Innovation: Technologies, Institutions and Organizations , pp. 1-35. London: Pinter.
16.
Ergas, H. (1987) Does technology policy matter? CEPS Papers No. 29, Brussels.
17.
Fritsch, M., Koschatzky, K., Schatzl, L. and Sternberg, R. (1998) Regionale Innovationspotentiale und innovative Netzwerke, Raumforschung und Raumordnung, 56, pp.243-252.
18.
Gertler, M.S. (1996) Barriers to technology transfer: culture and the limits to regional systems of innovation. Paper presented at the EU-RESTPOR Conference "Global Comparison of Regional RTD and Innovation Strategies for Development and Cohesion", Brussels, September.
19.
Grabher, G. (1994) Lob der Verschwendung: Redundanz in der Regionalentwicklung; ein sozioökonomisches Plädoyer. Berlin: Edition Sigma.
20.
Hassink, R. (1996) Technology transfer agencies and regional economic development, European Planning Studies, 4, pp. 167-184.
21.
Hassink, R. (1997) Die Bedeutung der Lernenden Region fur die regionale Innovationsforderung, Geographische Zeitschrift, 85, pp. 159-173.
22.
Hassink, R. (1999) South Korea's economic miracle and crisis: explanations and regional consequences, European Planning Studies, 7, pp.127-143.
23.
Hassink, R. and Lagendijk, A. (2001) The dilemmas of interregional institutional learning , Environment and PlanningC, 19, pp. 65-84.
24.
Hong, K. (1997) Regional policy in the Republic of Korea, Regional Studies, 31, pp. 417-423.
25.
Hudson, R. (1999) What makes economically successful regions in Europe successful? Implications for transferring success from west to east. EGRC Working Paper 99/01, Hull.
26.
Hyun, J.-H. (1998) S&T regionalization in Korea (lecture sheets).
27.
I&Tt (Innovation & Technology Transfer) ( 1998) Regional innovation: too many one-stop shops?European Commission, March 1998.
28.
Jessop, B. (1994) Post-Fordism and the state, in: A. Amin (Ed.) Post-Fordism: A Reader, pp. 251-279. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
29.
Kang, I.-W. (1996) Chancen und Grundlagen für eine endogene Regionalentwicklung in Südkorea: Fallstudie Provinz Chungbuk. PhD thesis, Dortmund University.
30.
Kim, J. ( 1995) Vitalising economy of lagging locality through industry-university-local government cooperation in the Korean context. Paper presented at the Regional Studies Association Corference "Regional Futures: Past and Present, East and West", Gothenburg , May.
31.
Kim, L. ( 1993) National system of industrial innovation: dynamics of capability building in Korea, in: R. R. Nelson (Ed.) National Innovation Systems: A Comparative Analysis , pp. 357-383. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
32.
Kim, L. ( 1997a) Imitation to Innovation: The Dynamics of Korea's Technological Learning. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
33.
Kim, L. (1997b) Toward re-engineering Korea's national innovation system in transition. Seoul: STEPI (unpublished manuscript).
34.
Kim, L. and Nugent, J.B. (1994) The Republic of Korea's small and medium-size enterprises and their support systems. Policy Research Working Paper 1404 , The World Bank, Washington, DC.
35.
Kim, Y.W. and Cha, M.S. (1995) Regional variations in new firm formation and their determinants, The Korea Spatial Planning Review, 23, pp. 19-35 [in Korean].
36.
Korea Herald (1999) 'Milan of Asia' project for Taegu hits early snag, 1 March.
37.
Koschatzky, K. (1995) Regionale Innovationsund Technologieförderung; Ansatzpunkte für die Nutzung regionaler Innovationspotentiale. Arbeitspapier Regionalforschung No. 1, Karlsruhe : Fraunhofer Institut fur Systemtechnik und Innovationsforschung .
38.
Lagendijk, A. and Charles, D. (1998) Regional institutions facilitating technology transfer to SMEs: a review paper for OECD. CURDS, Newcastle upon Tyne (unpublished manuscript).
39.
Lorenzen, M. (1997) Learning in space: some properties of knowledge, interaction, and territory in neo-institutional geography. Paper presented at the EUNIT Corference on Industry, Innovation and Territory, Lisbon, March.
40.
Lovering, J. (1998) Theory led by policy? The inadequacies of the new regionalism in economic geography illustrated from the case of Wales. Paper presented at the Economic Geography Research Group Seminar "Institutions and Governance", London, July.
41.
Luyken, R. (1998) Im Land der toten Tochter, Die Zeit, No. 51.
42.
Malecki, E. (1997) Technology and Economic Development: The Dynamics of Local, Regional and National Competitiveness. Harlow : Longman.
43.
Markusen, A. (1996) Sticky places in slippery space: a typology of industrial districts, Economic Geography, 72, pp. 293-313.
44.
MARKUSEN, A., LEE, Y.-S. and DIGIOVANNI S. (1999a) Reflections on comparisons across countries, in: A. Markusen , Y.-S. Lee, S. Digiovanni (Eds) Second Tier Cities: Rapid Growth beyond theMetropolis, pp. 335-353. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
45.
Markusen, A., Lee, Y.-S. and Digiovanni, S. (Eds) ( 1999b) Second-tier Cities: Rapid Growth beyond the Metropolis . Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
46.
Morgan, K. (1997) The learning region: institutions, innovation and regional renewal, Regional Studies, 31, pp. 491-503.
47.
Mothe, J. De La and Paquet, G. (Eds) (1998a) Local and Regional Systems of Innovation. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
48.
Mothe, J. De La and Paquet, G. (1998b) Some lessons and challenges for model builders, data gatherers and other tribes, in: J. DE LA MOTHE and G. Paquet (Eds) Local and Regional Systems of Innovation, pp. 327-334. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
49.
Nauwelaers, C. and Morgan, K. (1999) The new wave of innovation-oriented regional policies: retrospect and prospects, in: K. Morgan and C. Nauwelaers (Eds) Regional Innovation Strategies ; The Challenge for Less-Favoured Regions, pp. 224-238. London : The Stationery Office and Regional Studies Association.
50.
Oinas, P. (1997) On the socio-spatial embeddedness of business firms , Erdkunde, 51, pp. 23-32.
51.
Oecd (1996) Reviews of National Science and Technology Policy: Republic of Korea. Paris : OECD.
52.
Oh, D.-S. (1995) High-technology and regional development policy: an evaluation of Korea's technopolis programme, Habitat International , 19, pp. 253-267.
53.
Oh, D.-S. and Kang, B.-S. (1997) Technology commercialization and business promotion in science park: case study of Taedok Science Town, The Korean Journal of Regional Science, 13, pp. 119-141.
54.
Paquet, G. (1994) Technonationalism and meso innovation systems. Program of Research in International Management and Economy, University of Ottawa (draft discussion paper).
55.
Park, J.-K. (1998) Creating extrafirm infrastructure of institutions for small and medium-sized businesses, in: L.-J. Cho and Y.-H. Kim (Eds) Korea's Choices in Emerging Global Competition and Cooperation, pp. 179-228. Seoul : Korea Development Institute.
56.
Park, K.-T. (1997) South Korean economic development and the concentration of the textile industry in Taegu since the 1960s, Journal of the Korean Geographical Society, 32, pp. 359-370.
57.
Park, S.O. (1995) Network and embeddedness in new industrial districts: local and global perspectives, in: G. Y. Lee and Y. W. Kim (Eds) Globalization and Regional Development in Southeast Asia and Pacific Rim, pp. 150-176. Anyang: KRIHS.
58.
Park, S.O. (1998) Local innovation systems of small and medium sized enterprises in Korea. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the IGU Commission on the Organization of Industrial Space, Seville, August.
59.
Park, S.O. and Markusen, A. (1999) Kumi and Ansan: dissimilar Korean satellite plaforms , in A. Markusen, Y.-S. Lee and S. Digiovanni (Eds) Second-tier Cities: Rapid Growth beyond theMetropolis , pp. 147-162. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
60.
Porter, M.E. (1990) The Competitive Advantage of Nations. Basingstoke: Macmillan.
61.
Rothwell, R. and Dodgson, M. (1992) European technology policy evolution: convergence towards SMEs and regional technology transfer, Technovation , 12, pp. 223-238.
62.
Sabel, C. (1996) Learning-by-monitoring: the dilemmas of regional economic policy in Europe , in: Oecd (Ed.) Networks of Enterprises and Local Development: Competing and Cooperating in Local Productive Systems, pp. 23-51. Paris: OECD.
63.
Schmitz, H. and Musyck, B. (1994) Industrial districts in Europe: policy lessons for developing countries?, World Development, 22, pp. 889-910.
64.
Seong, K.-R. (1998) Delayed decentralization and incomplete consolidation of democracy: the case of Korean local autonomy, Asian Perspective , 22, pp. 109-133.
65.
Shin, D.-H. (1999) Korea's approach to developing high-technology research parks: the case study on Daeduck Science Park. Paper presented at the 16th Pacific Regional Science Conference, Seoul, July.
66.
Storper, M. (1995) Regional technology coalitions ; an essential dimension of national technology policy, ResearchPolicy, 24, pp. 895-911.
67.
Storper, M. (1997) The Regional World: Territorial Development in a Global Economy. New York: The Guilford Press.
68.
Tödtling, F. (1998) Innovation systems in regions of Europe-a comparative perspective. Paper presented at the European Regional Science Association Conference, Vienna, August/ September.
69.
Wessel, K. (1997) Südkorea: Technologiepolitik und High-Tech Industrie im Spannungsfeld von Wirtschaftswachstum und ausgleichsorientierter Regionalentwicklung , Die Erde, 128, pp. 17-33.
70.
Yang, H. (1998) Will the techno-park program be successful in Korea?Paper presented at the Fourth Korea-EU Joint Seminar, Taejon, South Korea, September/October.
