Policy Roundtable on Catch-up Strategies for the Late-industrialisers: Lessons from Korean Experiences

 Prof Keun Lee is a Distinguished Professor at Seoul National University,

Fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), an editor of Research Policy, and a regular columnist for Project Syndicate. Prof Lee is the winner of the 2014 Schumpeter Prize and the 2019 Kapp Prize. He served as an economic advisor to the President of Korea, as the President of the International Schumpeter Society, and was a member of the UN Committee for Development Policy (CDP), and the World Economic Forum (Global Future Council).

In the Policy Roundtable, Prof Lee will discuss the key lessons that arise from Korean Experiences in its strategies not only for its remarkable catching up with the industrialized countries but surpassing them in many high-technology sectors. Drawing upon his latest book, Innovation–Development Detours for Latecomers (Cambridge University Press 2024), he will talk about the difficulties that many late-industrializers like India face in initiating and

sustaining economic development. A crucial question is whether to follow the trajectories of present-day rich countries or seek out different, new trajectories. Drawing on extensive empirical studies of firms and industries around the world, Prof Lee proposes an effective alternative to prevailing development thinking. It presents a rich menu of development pathways, including a new role for Schumpeterian states whereby they do not follow the paths of technological development already taken by advanced countries. Rather, they can skip certain stages and even create their detours, to leapfrog advanced countries in manufacturing and service sectors.