Innovation Policy and Administration System in the Era of Post Catch-Up : The Case of Korea

Abstract

Korea's innovation policy seems now to face a turning point as the scope of Korea's innovation policy is ever expanding and its position is being further elevated within policy hierarchy. Especially since the current government took office in 2002, S&T related agenda has emerged as a core national policy initiative and perhaps we begin now to see a seed of new type of innovation policy. In a nutshell, Korea seems to face a situation where the new policy elements are conflicting and competing with the legacy of the past. At the same time, Korea recognizes the need for change and thus tries to achieve a system transition and build a new vision for change. As the catch-up strategy based largely on imitation begins to reveal its limitations and weaknesses, a sense of crisis that the old way of doing things would not work any more has been generated, thus creating a stimulus for a search for new development path.