The regional balance development policy had mainly indicated regulations and anti-expansion measures of Metro-Seoul area by 1990s. However since the late 1990s, it has changed to encourage regional industry, introduced as 'regional strategic industry promotion program'.
The regional strategic industry promotion program is divided into 4 sub-programs, which are 4+9 regions improvement project, technopark project, innovative industrial ground project and regional technology development project. From 1997 to 2009, considerable investment has been taken from central government, regional governments and private counterparts. Total investment reached 6,346 billion won which estimated as 5 billion dollar. Thanks to the investment, 17 technoparks, 13 regional innovation agencies and 72 regional research centers were constructed and provide technology consolidation space in region. In addition more than 20 long and mid-term research projects were performed to develop regionally customized technology.
However, after evaluating this program, it is needed to improve the performance of the projects, ties with related programs and consistency of planning. In particular, 72 regional research centers barely faced difficulty to manage their personnel and maintenance expenses, which means considerable number of regional research centers cannot be operated without outside support and will require financial support from the government in the future. Therefore it is necessary to supervise the performance of regional centers more intensively.
The regional strategic industry promotion program is divided into 4 sub-programs, which are 4+9 regions improvement project, technopark project, innovative industrial ground project and regional technology development project. From 1997 to 2009, considerable investment has been taken from central government, regional governments and private counterparts. Total investment reached 6,346 billion won which estimated as 5 billion dollar. Thanks to the investment, 17 technoparks, 13 regional innovation agencies and 72 regional research centers were constructed and provide technology consolidation space in region. In addition more than 20 long and mid-term research projects were performed to develop regionally customized technology.
However, after evaluating this program, it is needed to improve the performance of the projects, ties with related programs and consistency of planning. In particular, 72 regional research centers barely faced difficulty to manage their personnel and maintenance expenses, which means considerable number of regional research centers cannot be operated without outside support and will require financial support from the government in the future. Therefore it is necessary to supervise the performance of regional centers more intensively.