Korea and the knowledge-based economy: making the transition

As an input to Korea's efforts to revise the country's development strategy, the OECD and the World Bank have prepared a joint review of the challenges confronting Korea in its transition to a knowledge-based economy. The report proposes a four-pronged framework which will empower Korea to effectively tap into technology advances and the growing stock of knowledge: - An economic and institutional regime that provides incentives for the efficient use of existing knowledge, for the creation of new knowledge, for the dismantling of obsolete activities and for the start-up of more efficient new ones. - An educated and entrepreneurial population that can both create and use new knowledge. - A dynamic information infrastructure that can facilitate effective communication, dissemination and processing of information. - An efficient innovation system comprising firms, science and research centers, universities, think tanks, consultants and other organizations that can interact and tap into the growing stock of global knowledge; assimilate and adapt it to local needs; and use it to create new knowledge and technology. The report addresses additional challenges with respect to the development of knowledge-based activities, and of setting up an overall framework for the design and implementation of more consistent policies conducive to the knowledge-based economy. FURTHER READING OECD (2000). Regulatory Reform in Korea, Paris: OECD. OCDE (2000). OECD Economic Surveys: Korea 1999-2000, Paris: OECD. World Bank (1999). Korea: Establishing a New Foundation for Sustained Growth, Washington, DC: World Bank. World Bank (2000). East Asia: Recovery and Beyond, Washington, DC: World Bank.