South Korea: Mass Innovation Comes of Age Molly Webb
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South Korea: Mass innovation comes of age Molly Webb The Atlas of Ideas: Mapping the new geography of science About Demos Demos is one of the UK’s most influential think tanks. Our research focuses on five areas: cities, culture, identity, public services and science. We analyse social and political change, which we connect to innovation and learning in organisations. Our partners include policy-makers, companies, public service providers and social entrepreneurs. Our international network – which extends across Europe, Scandinavia, Australia, Brazil, India and China – provides a global perspective and enables us to work across borders. As an independent voice, we can create debates that lead to real change. We use the media, public events, workshops and publications to communicate our ideas. All our publications can be downloaded free from www.demos.co.uk Molly Webb is a researcher at Demos, where her work focuses on science, technology, innovation and the environment. Molly led the Korea strand of the Atlas of Ideas project, looking at the Korean innovation system and models of scientific collaboration. Molly moved to London from the United States in September 2003 for an MSc in Environmental Policy, Planning and Regulation at the London School of Economics, where her dissertation focused on the environmental and societal implications of nanotechnology. Prior to this, Molly worked on e-commerce and content websites in Japan and the US, most recently as director of interactive production at Oxygen Media in New York. She majored in Japanese at Georgetown University, graduating with a BSc in Languages and Linguistics. Contents Introduction 05 1 The many faces of Korean innovation Mapping 12 2 The magic numbers People 21 3 Skilling up a nation Places 26 4 Hubs, Seoul and CyWorld Business 32 5 Venturing beyond the chaebol Culture 39 6 The shy comedian Collaboration 45 7 New partnerships for new science Prognosis 53 8 Ubiquitous knowledge, ubiquitous innovation Notes 59 Acknowledgements 64 List of organisations interviewed 65 04 First published in 2007 © Demos Some rights reserved – see copyright licence for details Series edited by Charles Leadbeater and James Wilsdon ISBN 1 84180 171 0 Copy edited by Julie Pickard, London Design by Browns (www.brownsdesign.com) Printed by The Good News Press For further information and subscription details please contact: Demos, Magdalen House, 136 Tooley Street, London, SE1 2TU telephone: 0845 458 5949 email: [email protected] web: www.demos.co.uk Demos publications are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution – Non-Commercial – NoDerivs 2.0 England & Wales Licence. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/uk/legalcode) Attribution. You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor. Non-commercial. You may not use this work for commercial purposes. No Derivative Works. You may not alter, transform, or build on this work. Users are welcome to copy, distribute, display, translate or perform this work without written permission subject to the conditions set out in the Creative Commons licence. For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the licence terms of this work. If you use the work, we ask that you reference the Demos website (www.demos.co.uk) and send a copy of the work or a link to its use online to the following address for our archive: Copyright Department, Demos, Magdalen House, 136 Tooley Street, London, SE1 2TU, United Kingdom ([email protected]) 1 Introduction The many faces of Korean innovation 06 Introduction Rarely has so much hope been invested in a single scientist. Woo-Suk Hwang symbolised South Korea’s ambitions to become a scientific power, and enjoyed a string of breakthroughs in 2005 which seemed to confirm his success. In the spring of that year, Science published his paper announcing the creation of patient-specific stem cell lines,1 a world first. In October, he opened the Seoul World Stem Cell Bank to international fanfare. When he spoke at the BioMedi Symposium in Seoul the following day, bolstered by a who’s who of international stem cell research, he was cheered as a celebrity. Hwang’s speech dwelled on the desperately ill patients who had found hope in the promise of his treatments, while also appealing to Korean nationalism. ‘I put the Korean flag in the middle of western science,’2 said Hwang, evoking the image of Neil Armstrong planting the US flag on the moon. Some estimate that more than $60 million of public money was invested in his work. Everything he did was designed for optimal media coverage, from a failed attempt to clone a tiger to a cloned dog, Snuppy.3 In June 2005 the Ministry of Science and I put the Korean flag Technology (MOST) elevated Hwang to become Korea’s first ‘‘in the middle ’’ of western ‘Supreme Scientist’. science. Woo-Suk Hwang In little more than a decade, Korea, a country the size of the US state of Indiana with no internationally known pharmaceutical companies and little biotech capability, had catapulted itself to leadership in one of bioscience’s most promising fields. Hwang’s success sent out a wider message: Asian science could leapfrog the West faster than anyone had dared predict. His advances were the basis for research elsewhere in the world. Researchers in Europe and the US used Hwang’s success to argue for more funding to keep pace. But all too quickly Hwang’s success story unravelled. Suspicions were raised over whether Hwang encouraged female researchers to provide eggs for experiments. Worse, Hwang was then accused of faking his results. An inquiry by Seoul National University (SNU), his university, found that the experiments could not be replicated. By late 2005, Korea’s superstar scientist was on trial as his personal ‘stem cell bubble’ burst spectacularly, prompting a mix of bewilderment and denial across Korea. People were slow to accept that Hwang could be a fraud. In March 2006, weeks after the SNU Investigation Committee had confirmed the fraud, 4000 people in Seoul marched in support of the fallen celebrity. In the wake of ‘Hwanggate’ it might be tempting to write off Korea as a science power. The idea that a still-developing Asian nation could leapfrog western science seems to have proven far-fetched. Even a superstar scientist couldn’t compensate for the structural weaknesses of the system, in which less than 10 per cent of pharmaceutical companies conduct R&D.4 But just as too much was invested in Hwang it would be a mistake to write off Korea’s potential to become a significant source of science-driven innovation. Korea has achieved miracles in the past 40 years, and it might do the same again. Table 1 Table Phases of Korea’s growth and major policies 07 Introduction 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s Population (million) 25 32.2 38.1 42.9 48.4 R&D budget as % of GDP 0.39% 0.42% 0.56% 1.52% 1.87% 2.37% 2.39% 2.99% Development stage Imitation or factor-driven stage (sources of competition) (cheap labour = 55% of growth) Internalisation or investment-driven stage (manufacturing capability) Generation or innovation-driven stage (innovative capability – technology = 55% of growth) Major industrial policy direction Expand export-oriented light Expand export-oriented Expand technology-intensive Promote high-technology Transition to knowledge- industries heavy industries industries innovation, develop information based economy. Industrial infrastructure, strengthen strength based on restructuring, market-oriented technological continued investment, innovation, accelerate import advancement into new liberalisation markets, upgrading towards higher industrial value chains Science and Technology (S&T) Scientific institution-building Scientific infrastructure-setting R&D and private lab promotion Leading role in strategic areas New challenges. Head of policy and role of government – MOST/KIST – GRI – NRDP – HAN MOST is made deputy prime – S&T Promotion Act – Daedeok science town – promoting private – promoting cooperative R&D minister. OSTI is created to – five-year economic plan – R&D promotion act research labs – policy coordination coordinate across departments, includes S&T – highly qualified personnel – promoting industrial R&D – GRI restructuring promoting indigenous innovation (IPR emphasis) Macroeconomic policy Prepare legal and institutional Maximise growth and increase Stabilise macroeconomy and Liberalise trade and FDI and Encourage FDI, encourage framework bases to support government intervention into enhance private autonomy and reform financial markets and transparency, FTA with the US industrialisation the markets competition restructure the economy and others, Vision 2030 plans Human resources Decrease illiteracy Increase vocational training Expand higher education Develop: Literacy rates: system – highly skilled human – 98% (2002) resources in strategic fields HR innovation, increasing: – lifelong learning systems – market influence – productivity – international Education policy Plan education for economic development Enhance lifelong learning and non-traditional education Improve quality of education – improve teaching quality – government-led, partial market approach and research: Brain Korea – increase number of college graduates with engineering major – develop highly skilled HR in strategic fields 21 (BK21) encourages R&D – develop medium-skilled HR – increase research funds in R&D research. Phase 1: 1999–2006. Phase 2: 2006–2013, NURI (regional education) Notes: FDI, foreign direct investment; FTA, free trade agreement; GRI, government