Research and development linkages in a national innovation system: Factors affecting success and failure in Korea

Various partnerships are regarded as a key component of national innovation systems (NISs). This study explores the contributions of R&D partnership to successful innovation in the Korean intermediate sector in the context of a NIS. A sample of successful and failed innovation projects is drawn from firms in the Korean electronic parts and mechanical industries. These industries are typical of the Korean intermediate goods industry, which has experienced rapid technological advances in recent years. We divide the data according to two main criteria—type of innovation (product versus process innovation) and source of innovation (demand-pull versus technology-push innovation)—and base the empirical analysis on the four resulting domains. Main findings are that (1) financial support from government in the early stage of R&D and from downstream firms in general improves innovative activities’ chance of success and (2) collaborative R&D, especially collaboration with downstream firms and universities, likewise improves the chance of success.