Korea and the Knowledge-based Economy : Making the Transition

As an input to Korea's efforts to revise the country's development strategy, the OECD and the World Bank have prepared a joint review of the challenges confronting Korea in its transition to a knowledge-based economy. The report proposes a four-pronged framework which will empower Korea to effectively tap into technology advances and the growing stock of knowledge: 1. An economic and institutional regime that provides incentives for the efficient use of existing knowledge, for the creation of new knowledge, for the dismantling of obsolete activities and for the start-up of more efficient new ones. 2. An educated and entrepreneurial population that can both create and use new knowledge. 3. A dynamic information infrastructure that can facilitate effective communication, dissemination and processing of information. 4. An efficient innovation system comprising firms, science and research centers, universities, think tanks, consultants and other organizations that can interact and tap into the growing stock of global knowledge; assimilate and adapt it to local needs; and use it to create new knowledge and technology. The report addresses additional challenges with respect to the development of knowledge-based activities, and of setting up an overall framework for the design and implementation of more consistent policies conducive to the knowledge-based economy.