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by Lee Kwang-jae, Reportor / voxpop@ittimes.co.kr
Q. What do you think of the status of domestic core technologies
It cannot be denied that the status of domestic source technologies is behind the United States and Japan. But when it comes to the commercialization of technologies, Korea is on the top place in the world. The commercialized is a must in capitalism countries. The possession of commercialized technologies is a fundamental for the development of industries in export-oriented industrial system. For example, Russia is one of the strongest countries in the aspects of source technology possession but evaluated as the developing country in the fields of the commercialization of technologies. The commercialization is as important as the development.
The payment of the comparatively large amount of royalty to such companies as Qualcomm and Microsoft is a proof showing Korea weak points in developing source technologies. To further develop domestic industries, more investment should be made in the development of source technologies than commercialization.
Q. Domestic companies having core technologies tend to keep the facts secret. Deos this result from patent-related disputes with competitors
The patent rights for source technologies have two sides. On one side, the patent right is used to protect the developers.
The patent system prevents the patented technologies from being used by others without proper approvals from the developers. Those who want to us the patented technologies have to pay royalty to the patent holders. On the other side, the patent, sometimes, works as the obstruction to the development of industries.
The source technology in a base on which the holder designs its business model. But if the holder has the closed attitude, it can check the development of application technologies. I think the sharing of technologies to some extent with the open source concept is more desirable than technological control through patent rights.
Q. What kinds of efforts are required from the government and private businesses to boost the development of core technologies
I think the government, specifically the Ministry of Information and Communication and the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy, has continuously provided systematic supports for private businesses to possess or develop source technologies. But problems are found in private companies, especially domestic venture businesses. The CEOs of global companies promptly respond to the technological trends. On the other hand, many CEOs of domestic companies even do not have the awareness of the source technologies.
Many domestic companies just achieve domestic patent rights and do not apply international patents because of the expensive costs. In these cases, they may not assert their patent right in overseas markets.
Q. In mobile communication industries, Korea is actively developing core technologies. To further enhance the competitiveness in these industries, what kinds of measures are required
In particular, domestic mobile handsets boast the highest global market share as well as the top technologies. The achievement, however, is limited to the commercialized products. The part and component industry has yet to be further developed. The competitiveness of mobile communication fields depends on the technologies of parts and components. That is why the basic technologies have to be developed with long-term plans. Since the mobile communication market has a potential of growing by 10 times in coming 10 years, the development of basic technologies is more important than any others.
Q. What is your advice to boost the development of domestic core technologies
In addition to mobile communication and mobile handset, Korea has also global competitiveness in several fields. The close cooperation of industry, academy and research institute will produce more satisfactory results in near future.
