• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.9-22
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• 2004

This paper aims to identify the role of local governments in building regional innovation system. The central government has recently decided to support the promotion of innovation capacities of local innovators and innovation networks among thor The central government forces local governments to establish the council for regional innovation in order to implement these goals. Meanwhile, there is no consensus about the way in which the council for regional innovations constitute and operate. I think it is the time for us to talk about this seriously. It is widely conceived that local governments in Korea have still been hierarchical. Thus, they would be difficult to make the decision effectively on regional innovation and development initiatives. In this context, I suggest that the regional innovation promoting agency needs to take authorities to secure transparency and autonomy in planning, implementing, evaluating regional innovation initiatives. The local government no! ed to play a central role in establishing the agency. However, the local government should not try to intervene and control its operations.