Im Kwon-taek, one of Korea's most renowned film directors, once visited Hollywood to learn action film technology. After a tour of several studios and a glimpse of how they made action movies, Im realized that Korean filmmakers had a long way to go to catch up with the Hollywood meisters.
He was lost in deep thought about how to make films that could represent Korea best. Then Pansori (traditional narrative song) flashed upon his mind, sparking his motivation to produce 'Seopyeonje', a 1993 musical drama film about a family of 'Pansori' singers. This film, which indisputably is believed to depict images of Korea best, was favorably reviewed by critics around the world. His undertaking was a good example of attempts to bring about “change” and “innovation.”
Innovation means a big change. What brings innovation? Pundits from around the world have presented various kinds of views on topics, such as “Does technology cause society to change?” or “Does technology develop according to needs of society?”
According to the “wave theory” presented by Nikolai Kondratiev, a Russian economist, the current age is the “knowledge age” based on information technology. Likewise, we are currently in the era of "big data," aspiring to build a health and human services society. Income inequality will likely further widen, depending on how the state and the society adapt to this change.
Accordingly, whether each country can jump to the top place or remain at the bottom under the current circumstances, indeed, depends on what global leadership they will exercise and what innovation they will bring in the knowledge-based society.
This is a daunting task facing leaders of each country to tackle, Lee Hun-gyu, Secretary General of the Korean Federation of Science and Technology Societies (KOFST), said in a recent interview. Under these circumstances, countries of the world are coming up with policies and visions to bring “innovation.”
As far as Korea is concerned, a solid groundwork for bringing “innovation” has already been laid. The government’s catchphrase of “creative economy” is quite a forward-looking concept in the era of globalization. If you want to bring about a change for the state, the size of capital and labor is of course important. But what is more important is how to increase productivity based on science and technology. It is, therefore, important to develop the creative economy into a business model and work out policies based on it. For example, the government suggested ways to set up an innovation center for creative economy in each region and the “creative economy vitamin project,” as core programs of its three-year plan for economic innovation. They are strategies aimed at further strengthening the existing industries and society, and developing them in a future-oriented way through information and communications technology (ICT), and science and technology.
Korea has ranked top for four consecutive years in the ICT development index published by the International Telecommunication Union. According to the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Switzerland, Korea jumped from 20th in 2000 to seventh place among countries of the world recently in terms of scientific infrastructure, and from 21st to 11th in technological infrastructure.
It is not clear how much of its world-level ICT and science and technology Korea has made most of in developing itself in the process of economic growth. Science and technology are two mainstays, and will play a far bigger role, for the future national development. Therefore, it is important to seek innovation for the country by effecting more varied and proactive policy changes, including the “creative economy vitamin project.”
A New Asian ‘Journal’ like Nature or Science
Among other things, fundamental science is very important for innovation. Lee said, “Science is creation in that it can bring new breakthrough for knowledge.” It is very important for scientists to publish science theses in the fundamental science sector that creates knowledge. Lee touched on problems facing Korea’s science and technology circles. “Korean scientists are producing world-class theses in fundamental science. But most of their outstanding theses are published in American or European journals,” he said lamentably.
In reality, only when they publish their theses on journals like Nature and Science can they be recognized by world-renowned scientists and join their clubs. This is the case with most Korean, Chinese, and Japanese scientists.
Therefore, Lee reiterated the importance of launching a new journal that can represent Asia. In this regard, Korea, China and Japan need to cooperate with each other so that scientists of the world can share theses published in both Asia and the West and that Asia can emerge as a new substantial science and technology hub – considering that the number of theses published in Asia is similar to that in the West. Lee stressed the need to seek international cooperation to develop fundamental science.
Technology-Led Growth
Next, Lee mentioned limits in political leadership. Political and financial limits make it more difficult to solve social problems through science and technology, he argued. For example, since the financial crisis of 2008, the government has gradually lost its economic leadership and control. Simply put, no amount of money has effectively shown any sign of economic recovery. Furthermore, who would run the risk of managing science and technology that need massive long-term investments? After all, we seem to be living in an era in which we are vaguely waiting for a second Zuckerberg to arrive and solve problems for us rather than risking making drastic investments in science and technology by ourselves.
The problem is, we Koreans, who tend to become busy only after something happens, might be overtaken by Japanese, who like to make preparations well in advance for anything, in the race or face new kinds of unexpected difficulties. In an era when scientists and engineers play an important role, Korea has a woman as its leader for the first time who studied science and is presenting strategies for the creative economy, while taking keen interest in science and technology. Under her leadership, the science circles should present their own clear visions for the future.
In this connection, Lee said that the biotech sector, in which human resources and investments are concentrated, has the greatest potential as a future growth engine that can develop faster than any other. In fact, the U.S. government has allocated a whopping 70 percent of its budget of US$142.7 billion for research and development to defense and biotech this year. Korea, too, should brace for the growth of the biotech industry, a promising sector next to the information technology, while trying to identify what the civilian sector can handle and what is hard to solve.
“Advancement in science is based on tradition,” Lee added. He suggested that based on solid tradition and fundamental science, it is possible to prepare for any kind of future that needs advanced technology, apply it to the market, and bring innovation.
More than one hundred tasks are required of Korean scientists to develop future technologies, such as information security, big data technologies, smart cars, genetic-based treatments, and “Internet of Things.” It is thus necessary to set correct directions on the path to creating future growth engines for the country, using limited resources. The government should make right choices and concentrate on them, not forgetting that we can be the world’s top if we focus on most traditional things, just as the success of Seopyeonje showed.