The Korean Economic Forum
Reinventing the Government in Order to Nourish Innovation Ecosystem
Ju-Ho Lee (KDI School of Public Policy and Management) and Changyong Choi (KDI School of Public Policy and Management)Year 2017Vol. 9No. 4
Abstract
Since the late 1990s, instead of encouraging first-movers to challenge and takerisks, innovation related policies of Korean government, such as science andtechnology policies, industrial policies, and university policies, induced thefirst-movers to avoid risks. Likewise, these same policies also blocked out activeinteractions between each level of technology. For these reasons, we criticizehere that the Korean government has failed to nourish first-mover innovationecosystem despite the enormous expansion in the government budget forinnovation. Based on such critical assessments, this research suggests thatKorean government should focus on abolishing bureaucratic-controlledadministration, which revolves around controls and interferences, and also onestablishing the innovation ecosystem. To these ends, we suggest a governmentreform transforming Korean government into cooperative government, strategicgovernment, and innovative government.