Issue Without escaping the center-basic, region-industrial yoke, Korea risks reverse growth

Summary

The author concludes that regions already stand at the starting line for regional innovation and balanced growth through advanced science and technology. Non-capital regions must be given chances to experience, attempt, succeed, fail and accumulate in advanced fields, and policy should not miss flexible experiments by being trapped in the five-pole, three-special frame. Cooperation among non-capital poles and between the capital pole and the others is presented as a realistic way to raise the efficiency of national innovation and policy responsiveness. The science ministry, other central ministries and local governments are urged to break free from the notion that the center does basic technology and the regions do industrial technology. Otherwise Korea may soon face an expensive bill of reverse growth and lost national competitiveness. The author draws a parallel with today's regional extinction crisis, which followed from ignoring small signals some twenty years ago.