Reinventing the Government to Nourish Innovation Ecosystem

Abstract

Since the late 1990s, instead of encouraging first-movers to challenge and take risks, innovation related policies of Korean government, such as science and technology policies, industrial policies, and university policies, induced the first-movers to avoid risks. Likewise, these same policies also blocked out active interactions between each level of technology. For these reasons, we criticize here that the Korean government has failed to nourish first-mover innovation ecosystem despite the enormous expansion in the government budget for innovation. Based on such critical assessments, this research suggests that Korean government should focus on reducing its bureaucratic control, which revolves around regulations and interferences, and also on establishing the innovation ecosystem. To these ends, we suggest a government reform transforming Korean government into cooperative government, strategic government, and innovative government.