An Analysis of Public Sector Practical Guidelines for Valuation of Technology in Korea

The Practical Guide of Technology Valuation (the guide) by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Energy is dominant in technology valuation in the public sector in Korea. The guide was released in 2011 and revised every three years. However, there are several guidelines or manuals for technology valuation issued by other agencies under different ministries. This paper compares the several guidelines for technology valuation and figures out the similarity and differences, from the view of the US and international standards of valuation. The first aspect found is that the guide is evolving toward the basic principles of valuation. Second, all the guidelines should comply with the guide but have sector-specific characteristics in methods, variables and data. Third, although the guide recommends only two valuation methods, some guidelines introduce various other methods. Fourth, the methods are still too complex and having unnecessary ingredients. Finally, this paper suggests further development of the guide and other guidelines.