IEEE Spectrum March, 2012 - 8

spectral lines

Change comes slower
than we anticipate.

Lessons From Korea Inc.

W

hile the United
States struggles to
convert scientific
and engineering prowess
into commercial victories and
robust employment, Korea
Inc. is doing exactly that.
South Korea's unemployment
rate is about a third that of the
United States, and household
income is about two-thirds of
America's-on track to equal
the U.S. level in a generation.
For a country of roughly
50 million people, lacking
in oil and other commodity
resources, newfound wealth
flows almost entirely from
technological advances.
South Korea's ascent is
often greeted with astonishment; in the 1960s, the
country was poorer than
Ghana. Hard work and a zeal
for imitating and outdoing
the high-tech triumphs of
Japan-which occupied Korea
from 1910 to 1945-explain
some of Korea's rise. So does
proximity to China's booming
northeastern cities.
But location and
Confucian culture is only
part of the Korean story.
Smart government policies
have strengthened Korea's
8

high-tech juggernauts-
Samsung, LG, Hyundai,
Kia, and Daewoo to name
a few-raising high-skill,
high-wage employment
and increasing Korea's
global competitiveness. The
experience provides clear
lessons for the United States.

The United States has
directed tremendous
sums at alternative energy
technologies and futuristic
autos. Rather than fund
next-gen cars, Korea's
government and its favored
domestic firms have focused
on making incremental
improvements in old-tech
autos. The result: Hyundai
and Kia have posted
impressive gains in market
share by providing attractive
value for money. When
approaching electric vehicles,
Korea has tackled the critical
yet prosaic problem of battery
recharging with its on-line
electric vehicle system, which
uses a wireless power supply.

Make stuff people need.

The United States continues
to lead the world in visionary,
next-generation science and
engineering. But jobs and
profits flow from today's
products and services.
While the U.S. government
tends to shun existing
technologies, the Korean
government lavishes money
on its national champions to
improve existing systems on
the margins. The approach
helps Samsung in its
rearguard attack on Apple
in smartphones, for instance.
The lesson is contrarian:
Don't get too visionary;
avoid getting too far ahead
of the market. "We were
lucky to have Japan as our
learning target," says Keun
Lee, an economist at Seoul
National University who
studies innovation and

NA * iEEE SpEctrum * mArch 2012

Glorify engineers and
harvest the science
of others. Korea puts

engineers at the center of
its educational universe;
science is a relative sideshow.
While some of the brightest
young Koreans attend U.S.
universities, increasingly
they're staying at home,
fighting for places in such
stellar engineering bastions
as the Korea Advanced
Institute of Science and
Technology (KAIST), which
is led by an MIT professor
emeritus of engineering,
Nam Pyo Suh. In areas
where world-class science
is required, Koreans falter:
For instance, the government
space agency has repeatedly
failed to launch its own
satellites, relying instead
on Russian launchers.

Go with whom you've got.

While the United States
opens its doors to the world's
technoscience stars, Korea
depends almost entirely on
indigenous talent. Korea
Inc.'s dependence on
natives means that Korean
families pour resources into
education, knowing that their
own sons and daughters
will win top jobs at home.
The win-now emphasis of
Korea's government policies
on technology isn't without
critics. Some Koreans worry
intensely that they have
mortgaged the future to win
now. The tactic of dominating
established technology sectors
promises fewer dramatic
gains simply because the
ripest areas have been taken.
Growth must slow.
"We have entered into a
cul-de-sac. We are trapped,"
says Jae-Yong Choung, a
professor of management
and innovation at KAIST.
"How do we escape? How do
we build our own unique
innovation systems?"
For Koreans and
Americans concerned about
technological vitality, the
revelation is that uniqueness-
the radical breakthroughs-
may be overblown as a metric
of advance. Winning now-
mastering everyday technologies that result in value,
jobs, and growth-is more
important than capturing
the notional frontiers of
tomorrow. -G. Pascal Zachary

G. Pascal Zachary is a professor
of practice at the Consortium for
Science, Policy and Outcomes
at Arizona State University
and a frequent contributor to
IEEE Spectrum. He visited
South Korea last December.
spectrum.ieee.org

Chung Sung-Jun/getty ImageS

rapid economic growth.
"We copied Japanese policies.
We became a fast follower
rather than a first mover."
http://spectrum.ieee.org
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Spectrum March, 2012
