Business Consultants
IT & Technology
Background
The technology sector offers a wide range of products and services for both customers and other businesses. Consumer goods like personal computers, mobile devices, wearable technology, home appliances, televisions, and so on are continually being improved and sold to consumers with new features.
Thanks to robust skills and investment in R&D, Korea is leading in the development of frontier technologies with potential to transform production processes, stimulate the entry of new firms, and the launch of ground-breaking products and applications, according to a new OECD report.
The Science, Technology and Industry Scoreboard 2015 finds that over the past 20 years, Korean R&D spending as a share of GDP has doubled to reach one of the highest levels in the OECD area, at 4.15% in 2013, compared to an OECD average of 2.4% (see graph).
This investment has placed Korea at the frontier in the development of cutting-edge technologies:
For ICT-related technologies related to the Internet of Things, big data and quantum computing and telecommunications, Korea accounts for 14.1% of the patent families filed at the world’s largest patent offices between 2010 and 2012 (up from 4.8% in 2005-07);
For advanced materials and nanotechnologies like graphene, metamaterials, renewable energy enabling materials and wearable technologies, Korea’s share stands at 21%, up from 13%;
For health-related technologies like experimental gene therapies, Korean firms and researchers file 6% of patent families, up from 3.5%.
Korea’s lead is built upon strong education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines, with the highest percentage of tertiary graduates in natural science and engineering in the OECD area (32% in 2012). The share of R&D personnel in total employment in the country has doubled over the past 10 years.