Innovation and technological learning in Korea

In thirty years, Korea has risen from one hundredth to eleventh position in the world rankings of GNP per capita. Taking the example of Samsung, which in the space of ten years has become the world's largest producer of memory chips, Professor Dongyoub Shin shows how Korea has caught up as a result of the combination of a voluntary industrial policy from an authoritarian government which supports family conglomerates (chaebols) - by preferential financing and a protected domestic market - and the considerable efforts made by these chaebols to master crucial technologies and develop the skills necessary to improve them. Since the 1990s, Korea, which has become the leader in certain technologies, has been trying to implement a real policy of innovation. Adaptations must be made to encourage the flourishing of creative individuals and small companies, which have not been able to develop a great deal in the shadow of the chaebols.