Experiences of Technopolis Development in Republic of Korea: Policy and Recent Trends

Technopolis is a regional innovation strategy that generates sustained and propulsive economic activity through the creation and commercialization of new knowledge(Preer, 1992). A technopolis is not merely a concentration of high-technology firms or research and development organizations. At the center of the technopolis is the creative process of developing new technologies and translating them into commercial products or processes. But, a frequently raised question so far has been how to measure the effectiveness of technopolis as an instrument of regional innovation policy to stimulate technology-led economic development. Korean experience is interesting in this respect not only because of the extent to which it reflects regional innovation and economic growth but also because of the way in which policy trends have been incorporated into regional conditions and tasks of national development(Ko, 1998). Recently, regional innovation policy based on technopolis in Korea is one of critical instruments to achieve regional economic growth and sustainable development through networked collaboration between HEIs, research institutes and industries. It is expected that technopark can be regional platform for comprehensive approach of technology-based regional development. This is particularly apparent in\nDaedeok Valley (hereafter referred to DV) which utilizes technology led development as a means of promoting the regional innovation for sustainable development in Daejeon city(Oh, 2004). Daedeok Valley is also the good examples of explaining these impacts of regional development through the creation of the technopolis. Particularly, there are clear evidences of strong expansion of high tech venture businesses due to successful development of DV shift from pure science city to technopolis. This paper reviews the policy trends of technopolis in Korea with particular reference to Daedeok Valley. The paper is in four parts. The first of these outlines the policy and recent trend of technopolis in Korea. It describes the context within which this policy has developed. The second examines the experience of one of the successful sites, DV in more depth. This highlights the ways in which DV has been in the shift from science city to technopolis. The major research interest is focused on the question what kinds of shift have been made on the changing process from pure science city(DST) to technopolis(DV) for 30 years in terms of three aspects like structure, activities and network. The third section evaluates its impact on regional development. The last part of the paper evaluates the effectiveness of technopolis policy and discusses some of key issues for sustainable development.