• Journal of Technology Innovation
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.125-145
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• 2008

The paper evaluates the Korean science, technology, and innovation policy(STIP) in terms of an individual firm. The firm is Viromed(Ltd), a new technology-based venture company in the field of biotechnology. The case is compared with the 'Hwang Project', which is known as a typical failure case in Korea. In order to evaluate the Korean STIP, we establish 6 areas, which are technological infrastructure, institutional infrastructure, human capital infrastructure, technology market, industrial base, and innovation networks. The study shows that the policy schemes relating with technological infrastructure, institutional infrastructure, human capital infrastructure, and industrial base play a positive role in the start-up, development and innovation of Viromed(Ltd). However, we can hardly find the role of Korean government in fostering the technology market, transferring the technological output to economic performance. Although the international networks with the British, American, and Japanese firms or investors were a key success factor of the growth of Viromed(Ltd), the role of the government in this policy area was not enough. As for the 'Hwang Project', we suggest that the government should consider the possibility of commercialization in choosing R&D projects and determining the size of financial aids. Since the evaluation of the Korean STIP is based on an individual firm, the results of the paper need to be confirmed by a systematic comparison with other cases or industries.