Technology Policies and Acquisition of Technological Capabilities in the Industrial Sector: A Comparative Analysis of the Indian and Korean Experiences

Abstract

This paper reviews the science and technology policy of India and Korea in a comparative perspective to draw relevant lessons for India. It shows that policies, strategies and struc tures of science and technology evolved under a planned development approach in both Korea and India. However, while Korea created a strong national innovation system and acquired phenomenal technological capabilities, India had vital links missing that weak ened the performance of this system and resulted in a poor R&D performance of firms in the industrial sector. Four conditions need to be satisfied for building an effective national innovation system: (a) strong competitive pressures on domestic firms; (b) the presence of high-quality human capital; (c) well-developed industry-institutes-academia links; and (d) access to foreign technologies. While Korea tailored its policies to accommodate these conditions in each stage of its development, India failed to evolve an appropriate mix of these critical ingredients. The paper proposes to adopt a more focused but a multidimen sional integrated approach to create technological dynamism within the country.