Shim We, Kwon Oh-Jin, Moon Yeong-Ho, Kim Keun-Hwan
S&T Information Science, Korea University of Science and Technology (UST), Seoul, Korea.
Department of Scientometric Research, Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI), Seoul, Korea.
PLoS One. 2016 Jul 14;11(7):e0159249. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0159249. eCollection 2016.
This study was designed to improve the explanation for the behavior of the phenomenon of technology convergence. The concepts and measurements of diversity and persistence, as inherent attributes of the phenomenon, were elaborated by reviewing different theories. Diversity was examined by analyzing the degree of capability to absorb heterogeneous technologies, while persistence was investigated by analyzing the degree of continuity in the usage of cumulated technologies. With these two dimensions, an analytic framework was proposed to compare the differences and dynamic patterns of convergence competence by countries at the technology sector level. Three major technology sectors in the United States and South Korea, namely, information and communication technology, biotechnology, and nanotechnology, were explored to explicitly illustrate the differences in technology convergence competence. The results show that although Korea has narrowed the differences of capabilities for technology convergence compared to the US, Korea not only has to continuously pursue the improvement of specialization for all three sectors, but also has to encourage the exploitation of different technology fields. The suggested framework and indicators allow for monitoring of the dynamic patterns of a technology sector and identifying the sources of the gaps. Thus, the framework and indicators are able to ensure the purpose of government innovation policy and to provide strategic directions for redistributing the proper combination of sources to accomplish technology convergence.
本研究旨在完善对技术融合现象行为的解释。通过回顾不同理论，阐述了作为该现象固有属性的多样性和持续性的概念及度量方法。通过分析吸收异构技术的能力程度来考察多样性，而通过分析累积技术使用的连续程度来研究持续性。基于这两个维度，提出了一个分析框架，以比较各国在技术部门层面的融合能力差异和动态模式。对美国和韩国的三个主要技术部门，即信息通信技术、生物技术和纳米技术进行了探索，以明确说明技术融合能力的差异。结果表明，尽管韩国与美国相比缩小了技术融合能力的差距，但韩国不仅要持续追求所有三个部门专业化程度的提高，还必须鼓励开发不同的技术领域。所建议的框架和指标有助于监测技术部门的动态模式并识别差距的来源。因此，该框架和指标能够确保政府创新政策的目标，并为重新分配资源的适当组合以实现技术融合提供战略方向。
