DEVELOPMENT

It is characteristic of the South Korea, that research and
development activities and innovation policy (R&D&I
policy) are connected, to a great extent, to the state’s large
companies – the former monopolies known as chaebols.
Two-thirds of the state’s R&D expenditures come from the
large companies, and they also make a noteworthy contribution
to financing higher education. Six courses are
established in the science and tech nology policy, which
form the basis for the future economic growth of the state.
These include information and communications technology
(ICT), life sciences and medical technology, nanotechnology,
energy technology and aerospace technology. The
state has also announced a “green growth” strategy.
Singapore is characterised by a very strong and
focused state R&D and innovation policy, with a strategy
that extends to 2015. A large portion of the research
financing moves through state programmes, not university
programmes. Three broad R&D courses have been
chosen: environmental and water technologies, biomedical
sciences and the interactive and digital media. Starting
in the 2000s, and especially in the second half of the
decade, the state has vigorously invested in improving the
level of the universities and the quality of the research
institutions. As a result, they have top-level laboratories
and research work, as well as patents. This policy has
most likely been the reason that foreign investors continue
to be interested in Singapore, which is characterised
by a high participation of foreign capital; along with a
good position in the value chain, and the appropriation
of complex production functions. The principle is to
import the top brains, because there are not enough of
them in Singapore, in any case. The last few years have
added another focus to the innovation policy – in 2011,
the National Innovation Challenge programme was initiated,
in which energy will be the focus for the next five
years: energy efficiency, reduction of CO 2 emissions, and
the diversification of energy sources.
Israel is characterised by the very high relative
importance of R&D&I expenditures, this primarily in
regard to public funds. The state is famous for its high
technology, especially ICT, start-up support to high-tech
and venture capital. Another distinctive feature of the
innovation policy is the conversion of ideas and solutions
coming from the military sphere into civilian production
(the take-off base of many high-tech companies is related
to the service of young students and engineers in the
high-tech Israeli Army), as well as the brains that have
immigrated to Israel from abroad, especially from the
former Soviet Union. It was for the latter that Israel established
high-tech incubators at one time. The financial
support provided for innovative business ideas is strongly
based on the profit motive, whereas it is assumed that
the turnover and resulting profits will come mostly from
global markets. To cover the R&D costs, discount credits
are provided, which must be repaid if success is achieved.
Similarly to Estonia, mechanisms based on technology
and development centres (the creation of consortiums of
research institutions and companies) are also employed.
However, the state covers a much higher percentage of the
costs than in Estonia. Officially, there are no preferential
areas of innovation, but in reality, they exist (especially
ICT, but also high technologies for agriculture).
Costa Rica has been quite successful in attracting industrial
production based on foreign companies. It has been
said that, in this regard, the state has repeated the economic
policy that was successful for the Republic of Ireland
in the past. The branches of industry that dominate
are also similar to those in Ireland – production of electronics
and medical instruments. As a result, the relative
importance of the export of high-tech products is higher
than in many developed industrial states. However, the
success is not based on high productivity, but simply on
the availability of labour and other production factors. As
wages increase, the sustainability of a model of this kind
is questionable. Competition from the Asian states is also
feared. There is reason to believe that, if the foreign firms
start to import innovation to maintain their competitiveness,
it will probably reduce the number of jobs in Costa
Rica. The impact of the foreign firms on the local SMEs
was minimal. Therefore, a course was taken, in the new
research, technology and innovation strategy for 2011-
2014, to support innovation at the company level. A goal
was established to take the country on a path to an innovation-based
and knowledge-based economy. However,
many analysts are sceptical of the possibility of achieving
this goal during a realistic period, because, although the
relative importance of higher education and the level of
the universities is normal, compared to the average in the
other Latin American countries, it is significantly lower
than in Ireland (even in Ireland a few decades ago). Studying
engineering is not popular. A number of measures,
that are familiar from Estonia, have been planned for
the realisation of the strategy, such as the establishment
of research parks and enterprise incubators, innovation
grants for SMEs, and the development of their collaboration
with universities. Middle-level technical schools have
been established, as well as a university of technology as a
joint project with the national universities.
Both weaknesses and strengths have been pointed
out in Chile’s innovation policy. The weaknesses include
the low level of R&D investments, and the convergence
of knowledge potential in the capital of Santiago, while
many of the key branches of industry (mining, fisheries)
are located in other parts of the state. As a whole, one of
the problems in the state is economic diversification, and
the reducing of dependence on an industry requiring supplies
and upon agriculture. In search of a consensus, long
consultations with interest groups have been held regarding
the question of whether innovation policy should be
the fundamental path for developing the state’s economy,
and who should finance it and how. A significant step
forward was the establishment of a fund, in 2006, to deal
with the reorganisation of the state’s economy, which
was financed by the profits from copper production. In
2007, eight promising economic clusters were selected
to be prioritised. These were based on both old (copper
production, agriculture) as well as new sectors (e.g. international
financial services). The official rhetoric states that
the principle involved is not the selecting of winners, but
the backing of winners. A good example is the start up of
effective fish farming (salmon farming) in Chile as a new
field of activity. Although some companies had started to
deal with this sphere of activity earlier, the state played
quite an important role in launching this new branch of
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