Knowledge bases, regional innovation systems, and Korea's solar PV industry

Abstract

In order to more firmly align the study of Korean regional innovation systems (RIS) with contemporary place-based inquiry into innovation processes, this research deploys a knowledge base and RIS perspective to explore firms’ motivations to innovate and spatial variability in firms’ use of innovation-supporting infrastructure and external technical support. Results, on the basis of a survey of Korean solar photovoltaic firms, parallel expectations of firms with a synthetic knowledge base and indicate that firms are active in multiple ‘regional networked innovation systems’. This suggests a move away from Korea's historically dirigiste system toward an approach which is more balanced among regions. Concerning RIS research, wider applications derived from the study include suggestions to further integrate firm-level analyses in order to unearth shortcomings associated with policy, to deploy knowledge base considerations to identify possible policy mismatch, and to include multispatial demand support considerations for innovative activity, particularly for nascent industries.