Abstract:
Korea is one of the four from the developing world to have built
up substantial innovation capability in the design and manufacture of
state-of-the-art telecommunications equipments. The paper undertakes
a detailed review of this innovation capability and analyses its precise
status during the time when the Korean economy was subject to a serious
financial crisis. The paper maps out the sectoral system for innovation
in the telecommunications equipment industry and measures the
innovation capability in terms of a set of three separate indicators. The
ensuing analysis shows that the country has built up substantial innovation
capability in not just fixed telephony but also in mobile communication
technologies. There has been some passage of this capability from the
public research laboratory to private sector manufacturing firms. The
Korean state has continued to support the public laboratory through a
variety of financial grants and public technology procurement. However
these traditional instruments of support are no longer valid in newer
technologies such as mobile telephony. The innovation system has
nevertheless achieved considerable sophistication that it is in a position
to keep pace with changes in the technology frontier
