Korea’s transition experiments as a post catch-up project

Abstract

Sustainability has already become one of the most important items on innovation policy agendas in many countries. South Korea has attempted to emulate a global trend towards a sustainable socio-technical system but faces different challenges. These challenges must be resolved independently and not by adopting the policies and technologies of other nations. From the post catch-up perspective, this study reviews the ongoing experiments on a transition to a sustainable socio-technical system in Korean cities and villages and analyses the limitations of these experiments. The present study reviews the Low-Carbon Green Village Project and the Seoul City Hatbit (Solar) Power Plant Project launched, respectively, in 2008 and 2012. The two case studies share commonalities in that both attempt a transition into a new socio-technical system based on the shared recognition of the valuable ‘environment’ under the existing catch-up policy mode. These case studies are reviewed as examples of transition to a post catch-up paradigm. This transition is often characterised by sustainability, diversity, and a new development trajectory along with changes in environment and energy policy perspectives, which have been neglected.