Cooperative R&D in Japan and Korea: a comparison of industrial policy

Abstract

This article compares and evaluates Japanese and Korean industrial policies aimed at promoting the research activities of firms, with focus on government-sponsored R&D consortia. Korean R&D promotion policies were introduced 20–30 years later than Japan. In contrast to the Japanese case, Korean protective industrial policies prolonged and encouraged the duplication of technological capabilities among the major chaebols. Korean R&D consortia did not fully promote R&D cooperation, knowledge-sharing, or scale economies equivalent to the Japanese level. The organizational and institutional structure which developed under Korean industrial policy became an obstacle to the effective implementation of cooperative R&D.