• STI Policy Review
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.1-9
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• 2011

Innovation Policy has evolved to solve social problems through technological innovation. Industrial innovation policy promotes technological innovation so that it consolidates industrial competitiveness and aims at economic growth; however, societal innovation policy promotes technological innovation in the social service domain to improve the quality of life and strengthen sustainability. A different policy regime is required because the objectives and directions of societal innovation policy are different from those of industrial innovation policy. This report consolidates the concepts and characteristics of societal innovation policy that suggest policy options.

• STI Policy Review
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.1-16
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• 2016

Technology supply has been the main thrust of the Korean government's science & technology policy, focusing on the development and acquisition of new technology in line with the catching-up strategy of economic growth and industrial development. However, new social or societal problems have become major government policy issues, heralding new innovation policy aimed to address them. Such new policy initiatives for social problem-solving present a niche where the existing system of government innovation policy process is challenged, including such processes as goal-setting, planning, implementation, project management, and evaluation. The rigidity of the existing institution of government innovation policy, however, still shapes the content and progression of innovation policy for social problem-solving. This study reviews Korean innovation policy for social problem-solving as a policy niche, and aims to clarify its challenges and opportunities. It uses a system transition framework to explain the emergence and evolution of the innovation policy niche in Korea. The main research question is to what extent and in what aspect the existing innovation policy regime shaped innovation policy for social problem-solving. The study examines the inertia of the current paradigm of innovation policies and R&D programs, and sheds light on the search for a distinctive identity for innovation policies that tackles social problems.

• STI Policy Review
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.96-112
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• 2013

The need for designing and implementing integrated policy was further emphasized in tandem with the increase in interest concerning policy coordination and interactions. An active discussion is taking place in the field of innovation policy concerning "integrated innovation policy," which considers innovation along with financial, regional development, social, and environmental policies together in a holistic manner. In Korea since the beginning of the 2000s, there were many attempts at implementing integrated innovation policy through the restructuring of the overall S&T administration system. For the purposes of taking an integrated approach to S&T policies as well as to S&T-related human resources, industrial, and regional development policies, the Roh Administration (February 2003~February 2008) elevated the S&T Minister to the level of Deputy Prime Minister as well as launching the Office of Science, Technology, and Innovation (OSTI) (October 2004 ~ February 2008) under the Ministry of Science and Technology. This study investigates the policy coordination activities of the OSTI from the perspective of policy integration. It deals with the background of the OSTI, its roles and responsibilities, the coordination process, and its achievements and limitations while discussing the important implications for developing effective policy measures with the hope of contributing to the development of theories of integrated innovation policy.

• Journal of Science and Technology Studies
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.135-162
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• 2015

The purpose of this article is to reinterpret the existing innovation policy with 'the societal innovation policy' framework. It is looking into characteristics of societal innovation policy and the prospects for socio-technical systems transition and citizen participation are discussed. After the discussion, new interpretation of innovation policy elements will be dealt with lenses of societal innovation policy. It sheds new light on the key elements of innovation policy, such as Innovation policy governance, industrial innovation policy, regional innovation policy, and infrastructure policy and suggests direction of policy improvements from societal innovation policy perspectives. This will be an opportunity to reinterpret the existing innovation policy measures and to approach to science technology innovation policy for system transition with participatory perspective.

• Asian Journal of Innovation and Policy
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.145-163
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• 2020

The COVID-19 is a pandemic that affects all facets of our life and will change many patterns in science technology and innovation. A qualitative study was conducted using Focus Group Interview involving ten industry-academia-research experts with the objective of identifying changes in Korea's national innovation system and science & technology policy after the COVID-19. Eight questions were designed, based on the major components of the national innovation system, such as companies, universities, and research institutes, to discuss the changes in the national innovation system and science & technology policy. Also, keyword analysis and cluster analysis were performed using the network analysis program VOSviewer. It is predicted that, in the wake of the COVID-19, Korea's national innovation system will shift to a new paradigm that is more decentralized, responsive, and autonomous. Furthermore, several policy agendas that can turn these changes into positive momentum of change in science & technology policy are presented.

• Asian Journal of Innovation and Policy
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.316-329
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• 2021

This study explores the role of the think tank as an intermediary organization in the open innovation system. Think tank has contributed to the policy process as a mediator between government and public and as a symbolic entity of intellectual innovation to produce knowledge to the public. As the innovation system matures, one of the major challenges in research and practice is the openness and collaboration in the science, technology, and innovation system. While previous literature highlighted the think tank as the knowledge arbitrager transforming ideas into policy issues, few studies address the research questions: Is the conventional role of the think tank still persistent in the open innovation system? What are the demanding roles? This paper tackles these questions by reviewing the current role of the South Korean think tank in the science & technology sector. Based on the open innovation framework, we suggest that think tanks need to play a bigger role as policy entrepreneurs, crossing policy borders and interacting with other partners.

• Asian Journal of Innovation and Policy
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.138-151
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• 2017

This aim of the study is to show the necessity of implementing an industrial innovation strategy with consideration given to characteristics of the industrial technology. The relationship between industrial technological characteristics and innovation performance is analyzed by using an innovation survey as well as a human capital corporate panel (HCCP). The time-lag effect is also examined. Findings of the analysis show that high-tech industries have entered the post catch-up technology innovation stage in the mid-2000s, but low-tech industries still seem to stay in the catch-up stage. In terms of technology policy, the additional technology innovation support policy should focus on enhancing the innovation capability of the middle and low technology industries, since high technology industries are already developing their own innovation capability. It is necessary to strengthen capacity building through technical cooperation with technology consulting, rather than providing technical support through suppliers.

• STI Policy Review
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.1-45
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• 2012

This paper reviews the emerging literature on innovation policy from a practitioner's perspective, reviews the policy implications of an evolutionary perspective in economics, and identifies newly emerging areas of innovation policy analysis. We show that an innovation system is a dominant policy discourse, that there are limits of policy implications from an evolutionary perspective, and that there is a need for explicitly policy motivated analysis grounded in a broad evolutionary perspective. Innovation policy studies are an area in pre-paradigmatic stages whose dynamism originates from the interaction of theory, policy, and policy learning. The limited usefulness of policy implications derived directly from either conceptual or empirical analysis requires more explicitly policy focused research.

• STI Policy Review
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.34-56
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• 2014

This paper reviews the most central analytical and methodological issues that arise in developing national STI strategies. First, an outline of the relationship between national innovation systems and the strategic dimension is presented. The paper shows that science, technology and innovation strategy are often used in different forms and that there is no common understanding yet of the actual meaning and coverage of these strategies. The paper develops the terminology from a discussion of different approaches towards company innovation processes analyzing their evolution in different socioeconomic environments and the role and impact of science, technology and innovation policy on company innovation processes. Based on this conceptual understanding the paper defines national science, technology, innovation, and STI strategy and explains the basic terminology. From these definitions, the strategic dimension including the impact on the stakeholders is discussed. It is shown that a major success factor for STI strategy development is the involvement of stakeholders to vary and extend their use of their portfolio of instruments. Moreover it becomes evident that stakeholders follow their own interests which aren't necessarily in the interest of the national STI strategies. The analysis shows advantages and disadvantages as well as potentials and limitations of different approaches to develop STI strategies in their ability to describe the reality of innovation processes and to allow conclusions about the relationship between innovation policy and the innovation processes implemented by companies. It is shown that knowledge of these limitations is an important factor to consider in designing consistent and coherent national STI policy which aims at supporting innovation eventually. Finally the paper concludes that the STI policy mix concept needs a more systemic development approach which is integrated in the national STI strategy development and implementation.

• STI Policy Review
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.17-39
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• 2016

Despite the importance of university-industry collaboration, issues pertaining to the characteristics of collaborating firms, their modes of interaction, and the relationship between these modes and outcomes are not well-researched. The impact of country's development on these issues is also unclear. This case study examines Japan and Thailand-respectively representing developed and developing countries-and features the following key findings: 1) the characteristics of firms affect modes, with large Japanese firms being more collaborative with universities, whereas Thai SMEs significantly collaborate more with universities; 2) the relationship between modes in Thai firms is stronger than those of Japanese firms because in Thailand, perhaps due to weak technological capacity, R&D collaboration is conducted alongside university consultancy services; and 3) in Japan, R&D and human resource development collaboration lead to product innovation, whereas different outcomes are expected from different modes in Thailand. Apparently, trivial informal collaborations do have significant impact on innovation.