The Secret to Japanese and South Korean Innovation

By Ramon Pacheco Pardo and Robyn Klinger-Vidra

7.4.2024

Foreign Affairs

Japan and South Korea are innovation and tech powerhouses. They are home to leading firms in many of the high-tech sectors powering global economic growth and usually rank near the top of innovation indexes. To get to where they are today, both countries harnessed the combined power of their public and private sectors for decades. The innovation strategies they used challenge the model mythologized by Silicon Valley: the individual genius who comes up with a brilliant idea and receives funding from venture capitalists acting in a private capacity. In the United States, the perception is that startups should work by themselves, often with the aim of disrupting existing companies and industries.

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