Post catch-up system transition failure: the case of ICT technology development in Korea

‘Emerging economies’ like Korea in the 2000s face major challenges as they make a transitionfrom (a) a phase of economic development characterised by ‘catching up’ with the globaltechnological frontier, involving technological ‘imitation’, to (b) a phase of continuingdevelopment based on the development of new knowledge for globally leading (postcatchup) product and process innovation. That transition is about accumulating newnarrowly defined ‘technological’ components of innovation capability and changing thebroad organisational and institutional context within which the technological (andeconomic) process of innovation takes place. During the catch-up phase of technologicaland economic development in successful emerging economies, that institutional dimensionof the innovation system evolves particular characteristics that are well adapted to achievingeffectiveness in the catch-up mode of innovation. This paper suggests that (1) theseinstitutional characteristics may be less effective with respect to post catch-up innovationand (2) the institutional context adapted for catch-up innovation may not evolve adequatelyrapidly into the new forms required for effectiveness in post catch-up innovation. Consequently, these rigidities may become a source of lock-in – so contributing aninstitution-centred source of ‘failure in system transition’ in the innovation system.