Samsung is Committed to Open Innovation

I just read in Korea's Electronics Newspaper (etnews.co.kr) an article which proclaimed in its headline that "Samsung is Committed to Open Innovation."  Many of the actions taken by Samsung Electronics in recent years support that proposition, including its strong involvement in the Open Handset Alliance, and its vigorous support of basic research that will influence future electronics and telecommunications.

I have only one suggestion to add for Samsung Electronics---that it increase efforts to encourage open innovation in the Korean market.  True open innovation needs to display openness in the following ways:

• Linguistically--hardware, software and content need to be made available simultaneously in all of the world's major languages.


• Geographically--innovations should be introduced broadly and globally, in tune with the global nature of innovation and the information society.   E.g. Samsung's introduction of its Android phone only in Europe deprives Korean consumers and those in other countries of access to the innovation.


• Innovation in content--Google is the undisputed world leader in terms of organizing the world's information and making it accessible.  Why should Samsung not partner in a deep, long-term way with Google?

South Korea Ranks 3rd Among OECD Countries in "Readiness for Globalization"

Ready for Globalization?  Global Benchmark Report 2008 is the fourth in a series of reports giving the Danish Confederation of Industry's annual assessment of the development in the business environment and the performance of the individual OECD member countries.  I must admit that I was somewhat surprised that South Korea, overall, ranked third among the countries studied.  The report includes 84 international benchmarks and provides a picture of the strengths and weaknesses of the OECD countries in the global economy.   On balance it is quite a laudable accomplishment for The Republic of Korea and a closer look at the report is quite revealing.  The report compares the performances of 29 OECD countries and their business environments.

The comparison is based on 84 indicators divided into six main sections as indicated in the accompanying graphic (click to see a full-size version of the graphic).  Across all of the benchmarks, South Korea had more top-3 rankings than all other countries, except for Switzerland and Iceland.  This is shown in the second graphic to the left.  One can read through the entire report to get a sense of where Korea ranked high and where it was low.   It ranked high on measures of growth and development, but low, for example on labour productivity.  Korea came out number one among the 29 countries in the benchmark of knowledge and competence, based on average rankings using 23 separate indicators. This is shown in the third accompanying graphic.   As the report explains, The strengths of South Korea include a large share of youth completing a secondary degree, a large share of students in science and engineering and a high patent productivity.  One interesting measure shows that South Korea led all OECD countries in the share of 25-34 year olds with an upper secondary education as of 2005.  It ranked number three in the share of 25-34 year olds with a tertiary education.

And, it ranked second to the United States in terms of expenditure on educational institutions as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product.  Notably, South Korea ranked in the bottom five in terms of Labor Regulations as of 2007.  The assumption of the report being that a low degree of labor regulation helps business adapt to changes.  Not surprisingly, it ranked at or near the top in measures of broadband and internet use.  Finally, it is of interest to note that South Korea ranked last on the measure of "Cultural Openness" as shown in the final graphic below, and next-to-last on a measure of "Discrimination Towards Race, Gender, Etc." in 2007.   There is much more in the full report, which can be downloaded as a pdf file using the link at the start of this post.

Korea Part of a "Marked Shift in Innovation Hubs" Worldwide

Increased patent filings in North East Asian countries (mainly China and the Republic of Korea (ROK)) and the United States of America (USA) drove growth in worldwide filing of patent applications, which topped 1.76 million in 2006, representing a 4.9% increase over 2005, according to the 2008 edition of the World Patent Report of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The Director General of WIPO, Dr. Kamil Idris, observed “A major increase in innovative activity in China, the Republic of Korea and the United States has driven the overall growth of patent filings in 2006. This reflects a consolidation of earlier trends which demonstrate a marked shift in innovation hubs around the world.” He further added “While use of the patent system remains highly concentrated among a group of countries, statistics show an increasing level of patent activity in emerging countries. This is an encouraging trend,” he added.
While statistics from the World Patent Report reveal patterns of concentration in patent activity, they also point to a growing tendency for applicants to file their applications in multiple countries. This trend towards increasing internationalization of patent activity is demonstrated by the growth in international filings through the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) and in non-resident patent filings.
The period 2000-2006, saw a significant increase in the number of filings originating from Australia, China, India and the ROK. The average annual growth rate in patent filings for these countries was far above that of all reported countries in Europe and North America. Japan, the United Kingdom and Sweden experienced modest growth in patent filings (less than 1% a year).
In 2005 (the latest year for which technology data are available), the most intense patenting activity is evident in the following sectors: computer technology (144,594), telecommunications (116,770), and electrical machinery (121,350) technologies. Between 2001 and 2005, patent filings in computer technology, optics, and semiconductors grew by 5.3%, 5.0% and 4.9%, a year, respectively. There was a modest increase in pharmaceuticals filings (1.7%) and a decrease in biotechnology filings (-2.7%).

A Call for Greater Integration of IT and Conventional Industries

Reinforcing a point I made in earlier posts, the inaugural meeting of the IT Innovation Forum in Seoul called on Korea to bolster its national competitiveness through greater integration of its information technology sector and conventional industries.  As noted in the Joongang Ilbo, policy makers from the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, the Federation of Korean Industries and academia said that Korea has not taken full advantage of its world-class IT infrastructure.   Participants in the innovation forum noted that efforts must be made in the coming years to push for a paperless business environment that can benefit a wide range of businesses, including logistics, and establish software as a service  into everyday work. "Software as a service,"  is a term for online use of software for a fee, rather than purchase of software products.