Technological Leadership in Industry 4.0: A Comparison Between Manufacturing and ICT Sectors Among Korean Firms

This paper examines the technological structures of the manufacturing and the ICT sectors in Korea to examine the potential shift of dominant technological sectors in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). By using patent data of Korean firms from 1990 to 2021, we find that the manufactu...

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Main Authors: Bogang Jun, Seung Hwan Kim, Hyoji Choi, Jeong Hwan Jeon, Donghyeon Yu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IEEE 2023-01-01
Series:IEEE Access
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10076437/
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author Bogang Jun
Seung Hwan Kim
Hyoji Choi
Jeong Hwan Jeon
Donghyeon Yu
author_facet Bogang Jun
Seung Hwan Kim
Hyoji Choi
Jeong Hwan Jeon
Donghyeon Yu
author_sort Bogang Jun
collection DOAJ
description This paper examines the technological structures of the manufacturing and the ICT sectors in Korea to examine the potential shift of dominant technological sectors in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). By using patent data of Korean firms from 1990 to 2021, we find that the manufacturing sector has been the dominant technological leader in Korea in terms of both the number of patents and the diversity of technologies, even in the era of 4IR. Although the ICT sector has shown an increasing focus on Industry 4.0 (I4) technologies after the 2000s, indicating the potential for a shift in dominance in the future, the gap between the two sectors is still significant. The study also reveals that the manufacturing sector tends to diversify technologies, while the ICT sector specializes in several target technologies. Our analysis also suggests that both sectors exhibit path-dependency, with the ICT sector exhibiting stronger characteristics, and firms in both sectors shows the tendency of intensive and extensive margin in their patenting activities, with the manufacturing sector exhibiting the stronger tendency.
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publishDate 2023-01-01
publisher IEEE
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spelling doaj-art-2ca3fb3d79de4e58ab1cf98b7a8d88ed2025-08-20T01:59:14ZengIEEEIEEE Access2169-35362023-01-0111284902850510.1109/ACCESS.2023.325906510076437Technological Leadership in Industry 4.0: A Comparison Between Manufacturing and ICT Sectors Among Korean FirmsBogang Jun0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4994-702XSeung Hwan Kim1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6502-188XHyoji Choi2https://orcid.org/0009-0007-1751-9756Jeong Hwan Jeon3https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7632-0201Donghyeon Yu4https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4519-8500Department of Economics, Inha University, Incheon, South KoreaResearch Center for Small Businesses Ecosystem, Inha University, Incheon, South KoreaResearch Center for Small Businesses Ecosystem, Inha University, Incheon, South KoreaResearch Center for Small Businesses Ecosystem, Inha University, Incheon, South KoreaResearch Center for Small Businesses Ecosystem, Inha University, Incheon, South KoreaThis paper examines the technological structures of the manufacturing and the ICT sectors in Korea to examine the potential shift of dominant technological sectors in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). By using patent data of Korean firms from 1990 to 2021, we find that the manufacturing sector has been the dominant technological leader in Korea in terms of both the number of patents and the diversity of technologies, even in the era of 4IR. Although the ICT sector has shown an increasing focus on Industry 4.0 (I4) technologies after the 2000s, indicating the potential for a shift in dominance in the future, the gap between the two sectors is still significant. The study also reveals that the manufacturing sector tends to diversify technologies, while the ICT sector specializes in several target technologies. Our analysis also suggests that both sectors exhibit path-dependency, with the ICT sector exhibiting stronger characteristics, and firms in both sectors shows the tendency of intensive and extensive margin in their patenting activities, with the manufacturing sector exhibiting the stronger tendency.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10076437/Economic complexityindustry 40network analysispatent datatechnological networkthe fourth industrial revolution
spellingShingle Bogang Jun
Seung Hwan Kim
Hyoji Choi
Jeong Hwan Jeon
Donghyeon Yu
Technological Leadership in Industry 4.0: A Comparison Between Manufacturing and ICT Sectors Among Korean Firms
IEEE Access
Economic complexity
industry 40
network analysis
patent data
technological network
the fourth industrial revolution
title Technological Leadership in Industry 4.0: A Comparison Between Manufacturing and ICT Sectors Among Korean Firms
title_full Technological Leadership in Industry 4.0: A Comparison Between Manufacturing and ICT Sectors Among Korean Firms
title_fullStr Technological Leadership in Industry 4.0: A Comparison Between Manufacturing and ICT Sectors Among Korean Firms
title_full_unstemmed Technological Leadership in Industry 4.0: A Comparison Between Manufacturing and ICT Sectors Among Korean Firms
title_short Technological Leadership in Industry 4.0: A Comparison Between Manufacturing and ICT Sectors Among Korean Firms
title_sort technological leadership in industry 4 0 a comparison between manufacturing and ict sectors among korean firms
topic Economic complexity
industry 40
network analysis
patent data
technological network
the fourth industrial revolution
url https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10076437/
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AT hyojichoi technologicalleadershipinindustry40acomparisonbetweenmanufacturingandictsectorsamongkoreanfirms
AT jeonghwanjeon technologicalleadershipinindustry40acomparisonbetweenmanufacturingandictsectorsamongkoreanfirms
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