|
One of
the most notable catch-up stories of economic growth is
South Korea’s, known as the “Miracle of Han River.”
Rising
from a devastating war, an impoverished Korea managed to
reach its current status as a developed country in less
than two generations. It now has the third-largest
economy in
Asia and the 11th- largest in the world.
And if
the recent Goldman Sachs’ prediction proves right, South
Korea could be the second-richest country in the world
by 2050, next only to the United States.
South Korea
achieved its spectacular economic growth by investing
heavily on infrastructure and education, ensuring
stability especially in its financial system, and
providing robust support—both through public financing
and policy—to research and development.
In
particular
Korea
has copied, adapted and renovated foreign technologies,
what the late Harvard economics professor Alexander
Gerschenkron described as latecomer advantages.
For
Gerschenkron, a less developed economy has latecomer
advantages—it can tap and use the technologies and
practices of an advanced economy, and this, in turn,
will allow the former to skip several stages of
development that the advanced economy had to go through.
This is
the intellectual foundation of various countries’
latecomer strategies for catching up with advanced
industrial leaders. The World Bank describes this as
stages of imitation, internalization and generation.
In South
Korea’s case, it established science, technology and
engineering (ST&E) institutions aimed at promoting
science and technology to copy foreign technologies.
They, in turn, became crucial when Korean companies
ventured to assimilate these technologies to the nuances
of the country’s market.
By
imitating and internalizing these technologies, South
Korea was prepared to take on the last challenge—i.e.,
to generate world-class technologies of its own.
This is
what the
Philippines
aims to achieve through the Congressional Commission on
Science, Technology and Engineering (Comste). Working
through expert panels, Comste shall undertake a national
review and assessment of the country’s ST&E research and
development.
Based on
its findings and recommendations, Comste shall propose
legislation with supporting appropriations to make the
country more competitive through ST&E.
While
business-process outsourcing firms such as call centers
provide immediate jobs for many Filipinos, the country
cannot rest content with low-tech activities. The
ultimate goal should be, like South Korea, to make
competitive technologies and services in which we have a
comparative advantage, and become a world-class leader
in these niches. |
