The Korean government has actively sought to promote industry in regional (non-metropolitan) areas since the late 1990s. It has met some success in this endeavor: the differences in economic development between metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas has narrowed and techno parks and regional specialized centers have become established technology institutions in each region. However, to raise the competitiveness of regional industry on an ongoing basis, the government needs to make restructuring efforts to terminate inefficient programs and support effective programs. This article evaluated regional industrial competitiveness improvement programs, which are representative regional programs.
To evaluate the equitability for regional industrial development, this article examined whether economic growth between metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas has been balanced. It is found that regional industrial policy did indeed lead to balanced development and growth of specialized industries in each region and that there were many achievements in regions where the manufacturing base was relatively weak. It is also found that the proportion of added value of manufacturing industry in non-metropolitan areas has recently fallen, indicating needs to find ways to make regional industry more competitive. Regional growth factors were classified as  national growth effects, industrial structure effects, or regional effects, and analysis was done to ascertain the effectiveness of policy for regional industry. The analysis showed that the growth of key industries has varied across regions, which means that industrial policy needs to be designed to addresses the specific nature of each region's industrial base. This article also studied the effect of R&D project performance of  regional enterprises on their growth and profitability. The pre-post comparative analysis showed that operating profits of the enterprises declined after receiving funding, which means that the private profitability needs to be taken into consideration. The annual audit report of the local technology institutes indicated that projects entrusted by the central and local governments account for a prominent share of annual income. Therefore, when establishing a new local technology institutions, it is necessary  to consider having such regional institutions assume their running costs and operating expenses.
It is indisputable to sustain the regional industrial policy. The government needs to devise strategies suitable for regional needs and give local governments a greater role in developing regional industry. It also needs to build a corporate database for each program to evaluate the performance of regional R&D programs. It is advisable for local technology institutions to secure their financial sustainability to develop their capabilities