Korea's transformation since the early 1980's has been an information-based revolution. When I say "information-based," I include education, research and development and technology development, all of which are related. One of the broad trends in Korea over the past three decades has been the growth of private-sector R&D in relation to government-sponsored R&D.
The English web site of the Korea Industrial Technology Association contains some data to back this up. As shown in the accompanying graphic (click to see a full size version of it) the number of corporate R&D Centers in Korea more than doubled over the past nine years, from 7,110 in 2000 to 17,522 in 2009. As shown in the data below the bar graph, the vast majority of these research and development centers were created by small and medium sized enterprises. According to the same web site, nearly half of all of these R&D Centers were situated in the "electronics and electrics" sector. The distribution of R&D fields can be seen in the second graphic (again, click to see a full size version).
Korea's transformation since the early 1980's has been an information-based revolution. When I say "information-based," I include education, research and development and technology development, all of which are related. One of the broad trends in Korea over the past three decades has been the growth of private-sector R&D in relation to government-sponsored R&D. The English web site of the Korea Industrial Technology Association contains some data to back this up. As shown in the accompanying graphic (click to see a full size version of it) the number of corporate R&D Centers in Korea more than doubled over the past nine years, from 7,110 in 2000 to 17,522 in 2009. As shown in the data below the bar graph, the vast majority of these research and development centers were created by small and medium sized enterprises. According to the same web site, nearly half of all of these R&D Centers were situated in the "electronics and electrics" sector. The distribution of R&D fields can be seen in the second graphic (again, click to see a full size version).