Investors look to Korea for a great many reasons, some looking for a place to set up a factory or to invest in a partners' factory. Of great concern irrespective of the base reason for the glance is the general environment and hidden costs for business. Korea IT Times (KIT) had the honor of briefly visiting the GIN (Greening of Industry Network) 2010 conference which was held in Seoul this week to shed some light on the business end of Green Growth in Korea.
The issue of Green Growth is not a temporary policy fad it seems. While statistics on what is actually occurring vary and are the cause of much debate, the idea of avoiding devastation for self and offspring is relevant and understood by most. It was confessed at the closing of the session by Martin Robert Lees of the Club of Rome that none of the initiatives made since the signing of the Kyoto Protocol have worked. Martin's words were echoed earlier in the previous month in the Daejeon Science Park conference for IASP (the international association of science parks). With motions being made by Ban Ki Moon for inter-country fast-start investment funds for solutions, it is safe to say that the topic of greening industry is not going to go away for Korea or the rest of the world. To walk away from Korea as a potential investor without knowing the business end of Green Growth in the country, is perhaps a scandal. Especially when senior conference attendees were asking Korean hosts to please free up the knowledge networks in this field so that they can be shared and utilized elsewhere.
Amongst the potential negatives for Korea as an investment destination in a SWOT analysis an investor is going to ask about policies for green growth. Particularly if they are involved in manufacturing technology as some of the products are, let's face it, high producers of dubious side effects. So what is Korea doing
Korean industrial parks have begun to participate in a program called EIP (Ecological Industrial Park) that is promoted throughout Asian nations. In Korea where semiconductor manufacturers sit alongside bustling communities that work, farm and grow up, the issues have been approached through a master plan. Sounds grand and it is, it was launched in Banwol/Sihwa, Cheongju, Pohang, Ulsan and Yeosu as demonstrations.
The entire plan is actually three phases and there is a reporting and evaluation criteria in place for each phase. But the solution is not without problems. Each of these industrial parks is unique and where clustering has occurred naturally such as ASML in the relative vicinity of Hynix in the Daejeon science belt it is good for the water treatment portion of the EIP project. The problem the main EIP players are still solving is how to effectively report the demonstrations, that is, what variables should they choose to measure what It is no small question as the answer is the information that you, the investor, needs for your SWOT.
Consider for a moment that a standard measurement is left extant for the situation that really is peculiar to Korea as Korea planned their science belt and clustering more or less 40-45 years ago. So now we are measuring the effectiveness of a water park containing billion dollars worth of investment in piping where public opinion is measured purely by the variable of 'money that a municipal government has put towards EIP.' The project itself is a real project, the Hynix eco-park, and the Korea IT Times received reassurance, direct from KICOX that the particular variable mentioned, among many, for the measurement of the demo is undergoing revision, especially for the expansion of the project into the wider region. The report is of great value and interest to participants, onlookers and for future planning.
But as a potential investor you still want to know what your ongoing obligations are surrounding Green Growth, and that's fair. In Korea, in industrial parks, Green Growth has been orientated at the management level to provide monetary as well as environmental returns on investment. Projects demonstrated and under consideration have separate business cases and most are sculpted as win-win and "business models are developed to attract stakeholders to participate in synergy networks," said a speaker from Ulsan Eco-industrial Park.
Projects underway include a potential expansion of the Hynix eco-park to bolster farming and flower growing, waste sharing, conversion of waste into products and so forth. The Koreans have a great ingenuity and forward thinking with regard to the success of their livelihoods and as such it should be rewarded. There is much opportunity amidst the somber discussions of the great need to act in the face of annihilation and different types of business opportunities are possible. The new business opportunities are not only available through simply networking Korean companies, but internationally, waste into products brainstorming holds value as well.
More information about EIP in Asia can be found here: http://www.indigodev.com/Handbook.html
Most information was gleaned from the Cheongju Eco Project http://cj.eip.or.kr/ (there is English information if you press the English button on the top right). If you speak Korean, each industrial park can be contacted separately via KICOX www.kicox.or.kr and each has an EIP department. In the event that you don't speak Korean, most information can be gained via KOTRA services as they have a service to assist investors with gathering knowledge.
