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Measuring the dynamics of an innovation system using patent data: a case study of South Korea, 2001–2010

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Abstract

The Korean innovation system is analyzed based on patenting and co-patenting behavior between different knowledge producers (university, government, small- and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), conglomerates, individuals) in 34 different technologies. Patent data is obtained from the Korean Intellectual Property Office for the years 2001–2010. The traditional Triple Helix model of university-industry-government relations is expanded to include additional knowledge producers. The results indicate that the Korean innovation system has become less balanced in terms of technology: patent output has tended to grow rapidly in areas in which Korea is already strong. But the innovation system has become more balanced in terms of knowledge producers: SMEs, universities and individuals are being assigned an increasing number of patents. University patenting has grown most rapidly, especially in fast-growing technologies, in which university-business co-patenting is most prevalent. This suggests that rising public investment in university research is paying off, and that university research is industry-relevant. The data also reveal some unexpected changes: patenting by conglomerates rapidly rose from 2001, peaking in 2005, and then fell. Patenting by individuals has continued to rise throughout the period being studied.

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Notes

  1. All patents in the OECD and KIPO databases are classified using the IPC system, a globally harmonized system for assigning patented inventions to specific science and technology domains. There are currently 648 IPC domains which, by using the WIPO’s concordance tables, can be re-categorized into 34 fields of technology. By doing so one of the main problems with patent data is avoided: the varying propensities to patent between technology fields. By comparing the Korean share of PCT patents to the World amount (which in telecommunications is as high as 9.7 %) also allows the propensity to patent and fluctuations in patent output to patent to be normalized. When major new discoveries are made there can be a temporary increase in patenting activity which, if not properly contextualized, can be mistaken for an increase in R&D expenditure or a rise in productivity, which may not be the case. Therefore patent output in any sector should be compared to the global average.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the session chair and audience during the Daegu-Gyeongbuk International Social Network Conference (DISC) 2013 for their valuable comments on a presentation that preceded this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, Delft University of Technology, Jaffalaan 5, 2628 BX, Delft, The Netherlands

    Pieter E. Stek & Marina S. van Geenhuizen

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  1. Pieter E. Stek
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  2. Marina S. van Geenhuizen
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Correspondence to Marina S. van Geenhuizen.

Annex 1: Complete version of Table 4, PCT patent statistics

Annex 1: Complete version of Table 4, PCT patent statistics

See Table 6

Table 6 PCT patents: Korean total (2001–2003), Korean percentage of World total (2001–2010) and growth rate of Korean share between 2001–2003 and 2007–2010
Full size table

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Stek, P.E., van Geenhuizen, M.S. Measuring the dynamics of an innovation system using patent data: a case study of South Korea, 2001–2010. Qual Quant 49, 1325–1343 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-014-0045-4

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