Universities, Clusters, and Innovation Systems: The Case of Seoul, Korea

Abstract

Many policy-makers believe that strong university–industry relationships and high-technology clusters are the keys to development. The Korean experience suggests that the most important contribution of universities to economic development was not through the transfer of research results, rather it was indirect and through the preparation of high-quality graduates. Korean universities and research institutes (URIs) have contributed little to the creation of clusters with the exception of a cluster of spin-offs from government research institutes in Daeduck. The role of URIs may be changing to an entrepreneurial focus, but the strategy of concentrating on training graduates has achieved considerable success.