• 기술혁신학회지
• /
• 제19권1호
• /
• pp.1-28
• /
• 2016

현재 우리나라 혁신시스템은 기존의 성장 및 기술공급 위주의 발전전략이 한계를 노정하면서 새로운 전환기를 맞고 있다. 이에 새로운 혁신 경로 창출을 위한 과학기술 ICT 정책 패러다임 전환은 물론 지속가능한 에너지, 농업 농촌 등 다양한 영역에서의 시스템 전환이 필요한 상황이다. 리빙랩은 사용자 참여를 기반으로 하는 새로운 혁신모델이자 지속가능한 시스템 전환의 니치 실험으로서 유럽을 중심으로 논의되고 있다. 본 연구에서는 과학기술 ICT가 에너지 전환, 농업 농촌 시스템 전환, ICT 정책 패러다임의 전환에 적용된 리빙랩 사례를 살펴보고 우리나라에서의 시사점을 도출하였다. 유럽의 SusLab 프로젝트, C@R 프로그램, 대만의 리빙랩 사례 모두 사전기획 단계부터 지역 사용자의 배경과 경험을 적극적으로 수집하고, 사용자 주도의 혁신활동을 개발프로세스 전반에서 유지함으로써 다양한 전환 실험을 성공적으로 추진하였다. 이러한 결과는 중앙정부와 지자체가 리빙랩 도입을 검토하는 현 상황에 맞춰 다양한 시사점을 제공한다. 리빙랩은 국가 또는 지역 전반의 사회 기술시스템의 전환을 위한 전략적 니치 실험, 정책 간 연계통합의 수단, 새로운 지역혁신 모델로 활용될 수 있다. 또한 최근 혁신정책 패러다임에서 강조하고 있는 사용자 및 수요 측면을 반영한 정책통합을 실현할 수 있는 중요한 플랫폼이 될 수 있다.

• STI Policy Review
• /
• 제5권1호
• /
• pp.131-144
• /
• 2014

The entrepreneurial university concept is a new challenge and opportunity for science and technology universities in Korea. The traditional university functions of education, research, and community service are still highly relevant, but increasingly so are new types of collaboration for research outcomes and funding resources. Strategic university management is needed to handle socioeconomic contribution, involving the creation and maintenance of proactive relationships with firms, national and regional governments, and other regional entities. The emergence of the entrepreneurial university in Korea is similar to the socioeconomic changes observable in the history of university development in America and in many other developed countries. In this paper, we examine the emerging paradigm of entrepreneurial universities in Korea and discuss the interactions among universities, firms, and government strategy and policy by investigating and comparing two universities, POSTECH and KAIST, in their leadership, adaptation to changes in the environment, business strategies, organization, and cooperative network. We conclude with policy points that emphasize the fact that while entrepreneurial universities are an emerging concept, they can expand innovation and creativity in education and research in Korean universities in the mid-to-long term if university administration, policymakers and public administrators, and regional innovation actors take an interest in the need for a new organization and system where university research can contribute socioeconomically.

• STI Policy Review
• /
• 제1권2호
• /
• pp.51-68
• /
• 2010

This paper compares OECD nations by developing a comprehensive evaluation index that examines the efforts and achievements of countries toward Low-Carbon Green Growth. The input-process-output of a Low-Carbon Society system is in dynamic competition with that of a High-Carbon Society system. The model used in this study of the comprehensive evaluation index for Low-Carbon Green Growth was comprised of Large indices such as Input, Process, and Output. The Input and Output consisted of 'Social-economic' and 'Physical-ecological' Middle indices while the Process was made up of 'Stimulation mechanisms' and 'Participation of stakeholders and Knowledge flow' Middle indices. In order to calculate the comprehensive evaluation index, our model gave a weight to each indicator/index and applied a weighted arithmetic mean. Korea ranked $15^{th}$ out of 30 OECD nations in the comprehensive evaluation that analyzed Input ($14^{th}$), Process ($18^{th}$), and Output ($17^{th}$). The top five nations were Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, and France; while Japan was $8^{th}$ and the USA $26^{th}$.

• STI Policy Review
• /
• 제9권1호
• /
• pp.133-157
• /
• 2018

The divide between the "digital" economy and the traditional "physical" economy is outdated. In fact, we are in a transition to a singular economy. This paper classifies economic objects (including actors) as either physical or virtual and argues that due to emerging technologies, these objects are interacting with each other in both physical and increasingly digital spheres in tandem. This paper recognizes the elemental difference between atoms and bytes but argues that physical and digital economic activities are becoming inseparably intertwined. Furthermore, arbitrarily dividing the economy into two categories - one "physical" and the other "digital" - distorts the overall view of the actual execution of economic activity. A wide range of innovations emerging concurrently is fueling the transition to a singular economy. Often referred to as the elements of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), four emerging technological areas are reviewed here: distributed ledger technology, artificial intelligence/machine learning/data sciences, biometrics and remote sensor technologies, and access infrastructure (universal internet access/electricity/cloud computing). The financial services sector is presented as a case study for the potential impact of these 4IR technologies and the blurring physical/digital line. To reach the potential of these innovations and a truly singular economy, it requires the concurrent development of social, organizational, and regulatory innovations, though they lag in terms of technological progress thus far.

• STI Policy Review
• /
• 제5권1호
• /
• pp.75-97
• /
• 2014

Entrepreneurial financing, such as publicly initiated venture capital or grant schemes, serves as an important policy instrument that aims to bridge the financing gap facing young, innovative businesses, a gap that is mainly due to higher risk and growing uncertainty, and to strategically promote the creation of new ventures through the revitalization of their venture capital industries. This study examines public venture capital initiatives in Australia, Canada, and Sweden, and discovered that all three countries actively foster their venture capital industry through the formation of funds or the provision of tax incentives. It is notable that the majority of financing initiatives heavily depend on supply-side measures rather than demand-driven policies that focus on stimulating private investment in technological innovations and discoveries. This paper discusses in-depth the policy impact of public financing initiatives and their subsequent side-effects raised in the process such as overlapping in funding structure across the country, lack of monitoring and evaluation for feedback, fragmentation across the government ministries and agencies, and competition with the private sector, which may cause inefficiency as a result of public intervention. Financial constraints may arise for many reasons, partly resulting from the lack of investment readiness of young entrepreneurs. This signals a policy shift towards the creation of market-driven demand away from the traditional supply-push approach, and is a grand challenge to policymakers in entrepreneurial financing. Attention is leaning towards the efficiency and effectiveness of these public-financing initiatives in terms of their policy roles. It is worth noting that policy should focus on generating synergy so available resources can be channeled into the early, risky stage of new ventures, working as facilitator to the achievement of an intended policy goal.

• STI Policy Review
• /
• 제9권1호
• /
• pp.99-132
• /
• 2018

Developing countries face numerous challenges in the process of building science, technology, and research capacity; in particular, the formation and accumulation of skilled S&T workforce. The lack of organized and sustainable higher education options (Master and Doctoral programs), nonexistent or low-quality academic programs, and the absence of research-oriented study options are some of the strong contributors for talented students to emigrate to developed countries. At the same time, the consolidation of a global knowledge economy, the internationalization of higher education, and the competition to attract foreign talent in industrialized countries present challenges for underdeveloped nations to retain their already scarce skilled human resources. In this context, student mobility has been used as a policy mechanism to cope with S&T workforce shortages in S&T laggard nations. It has also enabled opportunities for international cooperation to play a key role. While significant literature has been devoted to studying the gains of developed nations with the arrival and potential migration of the mobilized students, few scholarly inquiries have addressed the benefits and losses experienced by their countries of origin. More importantly, limited research can be found on policy options and policy implications for developing countries to deal with the dilemmas presented by the brain-drain/brain-circulation debate. The goal of this article is to study empirical evidence of an international cooperation initiative for student mobility between the Republic of Korea and Guatemala (implemented during 2009-2015). The paper analyzes this particular international cooperation experience from the perspective of the different actors involved and attempts to draw policy implications and policy options for developing countries to deal with potential risks and gains derived from international mobility for their S&T capacity building.

• STI Policy Review
• /
• 제1권4호
• /
• pp.41-61
• /
• 2010

The Korean government's support towards the establishment of leading research hubs at universities began with the initiation of the Science/ Engineering Research Center in 1990. Such efforts to provide support to research organizations have continued for some twenty years in various forms, which implies that building research hubs was critical in acquiring global leadership in research. However, the effect of such research hub nurturing policies has never been properly evaluated, apart from an assessment of their validity. Therefore, this paper analyzes how major programs to form research groups by providing assistance to joint research by researchers at universities are operated, and the characteristics of such programs through comparative analysis with other programs. There are two major focal points in the analysis: the first is the evaluation of the level of differentiation between Research Organization Support Programs (ROP) and other R&D Programs from an efficiency perspective, and the second is an examination of the extent of systematization of research organizations that exist at universities and impact of Research Organization Support Programs on the activities of participating professors from an effectiveness perspective. The result showed that the ROP were no longer only relevant for the formation and maintenance of research groups. Other R&D Programs are growing increasingly larger in scale and conducted over longer periods of time. Thus, the ROP can no longer be differentiated from other programs in research period and size of funding. An analysis on the effect of ROP demonstrated that all activities by participating professors in organizations that were the beneficiaries of group research assistance were more active compared to their counterparts in organizations that received other research support, but there was little difference in the elements of systematization. This implies that the joint research conducted at universities is not systematized and that it is still research based on individual themes but conducted jointly. In addition, it also means that the ROP is failing to effectively lead the systematization of research. In other words, today, university research organizations are not operated as independent, long-term bodies, but are more relevant as a combination of research units of individual professors.

• STI Policy Review
• /
• 제1권1호
• /
• pp.1-21
• /
• 2010

To achieve the "low carbon green growth" vision, the first step is securing core technologies. Therefore, S&T policy direction for green technology development is urgently needed. As of 2008, investment in green technology (GT) development hovered around 10% of the government's total R&D budget. Thus, the Korean government developed a plan to increase that percentage to 15%, by 2013. To develop reasonable investment strategies for green technology development, targeted strategies that reflect technology and market changes by green technology area are needed. However, the overall planning and coordination of national GT development is currently split among, approximately, 10 government ministries. To establish an efficient green technology development system, the so-called "Green Technology R&D Council" should be launched in collaboration with the Presidential Committee on Green Growth and the National Science and Technology Council. Furthermore, to build a solid foundation for commercializing the outcomes of GT development projects and promote GT transfer, the government should undertake two initiatives. First, the government should reinforce GT R&D performance management, by establishing a GT R&D performance management and evaluation system. Second, the government should implement the "customized packaged support for promoting green technology business rights and commercialization" and present "e-marketplace for market-oriented green technologies". Creating a pan-ministerial policy for GT development policy would necessitate restructuring the HR(Human Resources) development system, which is currently separated by technology area. Based upon mid/long-term HR supply and demand forecasts, the government should design differentiated HR development projects, continuously evaluate those projects, and reflect the evaluation results in future policy development. Finally, to create new GT-related industries, the "Green TCS (Testing, Certification, and Standards) System" needs to be implemented. For objective evaluation and diffusion of R&D results by green technology area, a common standardization plan for testing, analysis, and measurement, like the "Green TCS", should be developed and integrated.

• STI Policy Review
• /
• 제4권2호
• /
• pp.74-95
• /
• 2013

Rapid changes in the economic, social and academic environments often provide opportunities to develop new and advanced technologies. In China, recent literature on the role of universities suggests that university-industry linkages (UILs) play a substantial role in the development of high-tech industries. Since 1979 when the country became more open and underwent economic reform, Chinese central authorities, local governments, and universities have continued to set up various science and technology (S&T) policies to stimulate UILs, contributing to China's technological progress and economic growth. This study examines the role of S&T policies on UILs such as transfer of technology, joint research, and spin-off creation with a particular focus on Nanjing University (NJU) in Jiangsu Province. Nanjing has over 53 universities, ranking it behind Beijing and Shanghai in terms of S&T and higher education opportunities. By adopting "institutional methodology," this study contends that UILs not only benefit universities and industry but also society in terms of job training, consulting activities, joint research, R&D results commercialization, patent licensing, new business creation, and other aspects. Finally, we suggest that the Chinese experience, though with some problems, might enhance our understanding of how to stimulate UILs through the arrangement of various S&T policies.

• STI Policy Review
• /
• 제4권1호
• /
• pp.74-93
• /
• 2013

Although open innovation (OI) has been an important research theme for over a decade, its theoretical framework has been relatively under-researched. As OI involves a wide range of innovation activities, a firm's capacities in the use of the various firm resources play a critical role in OI implementation. However, it is unclear how they affect firms' performances for little is known of OI capacities. Based on a theoretical framework derived from the literature, this study looks into the relationships between six OI capacities (inventive, absorptive, transformative, connective, innovative, and desorptive) and financial performance using the Korean Innovation Survey (KIS) 2008 data. The research model was tested using structural equation modelling (SEM) while potential differences in capacities between different firm groups were also investigated. The results indicate that 1) OI capacities are significantly associated with firms' financial performance; 2) capacities are highly correlated with one another; and 3) some capacities are differently configured between different types of firms. Findings suggest that policy makers should pay more attention to helping firms enhance OI capacities and attempt to develop relevant policies in order to complement inadequate capacities.