Managed Innovation in Korea in telecommunications – Moving towards 4G mobile at a national level

The Korean experience offers a case study in the necessary drivers behind rapid economic development based on ICTs, through insights into how alternative wireless technologies (AWTs) and their services have not just been developed, but have been popularised and brought to market. This paper examines the Korean success in telecommunications and summarises certain key lessons on innovation that we may draw from its development of new radio technologies. Managed innovation with long-term programmes is the key to Korea’s transition towards a knowledge based society. Some elements of the Korean model of innovation and its application are specific to Korea’s socio-political condition and cannot be replicated, while others offer opportunities for new thinking on long-term policy, especially in telecommunications.