Korea Is No Longer IT Powerhouse

Japan Outrivals South Korea in Cutting-Edge Technologies

By Kim Tae-gyu
Staff Reporter

As far as leading-edge technologies are concerned, South Korea is a distant laggard compared to Japan, a private think tank said Monday.

Based on research by the Japan Science and Technology Agency, the Hyundai Economic Research Institute said that Japan holds nine times more world-leading techniques than Korea.

“A total of 274 segments were considered in nano, bio, green and information technologies for Korea, Japan, the United States, the European Union (EU) and other nations,” Hyundai said in a report.

“Among them, Korea got the highest grade of ‘A’ for 41 products, one-ninth of Japan’s 361. The United States led the pack with 546, followed by the EU with 397,” it said.

Especially disappointing is the info-tech segment where Asia’s No. 4 economy chalked up an “A” for a total of just nine products in integrated circuits, displays and optical memory to name a few.

The U.S. racked up the best scores for 53 products out of 59 such as computing, information security and robotics, chased by Japan with 26 and the EU 15.

The results are a blow to Korea, which takes national pride as an IT power as the home of the world’s leading info-tech companies such as Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics.

In the usage of the IT, Korea has also been regarded as a global hot bed, boasting the world’s top penetration ratio of the high-speed Internet as well as high use of the latest digital gadgets.

“In fact, we were ahead of the curve in just a handful of IT areas in the past while languishing in other areas. But our success in the few areas blinded us,” a Seoul analyst said.

“The real problem is that we are losing our competitiveness even in the areas which we have spearheaded. We cannot afford the luxury of being complacent,” he said.

When it comes to nano-technology, things are even worse. Korea got just one “A” out of 43 products in the prominent sector, and in green technologies the country failed to earn a single “A.”

In the meantime, China fell far short of the global leaders in most fields. But the world’s most populous country is fast advancing in cutting-edge technologies.

“China is channeling a large amount of money into research and development. It has also attracted the best research staff. It is expected to chase Japan down the road and we also need to be prepared,” Hyundai said in the report.

voc200@koreatimes.co.kr