Innovation and Networks in Industrial Clusters: Empirical Results from Three Large Cities - Technopolis: Best Practices for Science and Technology Cities - page 258

complexes (Kim et al. 2006 ). In particular, most of the metropolitan cities of Korea
have one or more national or regional industrial complexes. The case study regions
of this paper, Busan, Daejeon, and Gwangju also have national and regional
industrial complexes within them.
In the Busan region, which has a strong agglomeration of footwear, apparel, and
mechanical parts and materials industries, for example, the mechanical parts and
materials industry is one of the main industries of the local industrial complexes.
While the enterprises in the industry are located within the industrial complexes of
the city, many of them are concentrated in Sasang-gu and Saha-gu. While Daejeon
has the National Science and Technology Complex for Research Institutions,
Gwangju has the National High-tech Industrial Complex for Photonics-related
industry. The ICT enterprises of Daejeon are mostly clustered in Yuseung-gu and
Daeduck-gu. The photonics enterprises of Gwangju are mostly located in Buk-gu
and Gwangsan-gu. The case studies of the paper, the mechanical parts and
materials industry of Busan, photonics industry of Gwangju, and ICT industry of
Daejeon have been selected from the strategic industries that have formed clusters
centering around the principal industrial complexes of each of the three cities.
Busan, which is located at the hub of the marine transportation of Korea, has the
population of some 3.67 million, which accounts for 7.4 % of the entire population
of the nation. The mechanical parts and materials industry includes part of the new
materials, mechatronics, shipbuilding, mechanical equipment, and steel and iron
industry. In Busan, there are more than one thousand enterprises in these indus-
tries, with some 25 thousand workers employed in the companies. The sales per
worker of the companies surveyed are some W ¼ 490 million, which is compara-
tively high; however, the exports per worker are only W ¼ 30 million, revealing that
they are simply a domestic consumer-oriented industry. The mechanical parts and
materials industry of Busan lacks key leading enterprises, which results from the
nature of the industry, and is composed mostly of small and medium-sized
enterprises. In addition, supporting institutions such as public research institutions
or agencies for technical support, which may lead the technical innovation, are
insufficient considering the scale of the cluster.
Daejeon city, located in the central part of the nation, is the fifth largest city in
the country among Korea's top seven large cities including Seoul, Busan, Incheon,
Daegu, Gwangju, and Ulsan. The population is some 1.45 million, and accounts
for 3.1 % of the nation's population. Daejeon is the transportation hub of the
country, connecting the whole country from east to west, and from north to south,
and easily accessible from anywhere of the country. The Daejeon city is the center
of knowledge and information, and situated at the second administrative capital of
the country. Besides, Daejeon is home to the Daedeok Valley, the cradle of the
high-tech industry of the country, where the Daedeok Science Town—the coun-
try's R&D park, is located. This is where the country's leading science and
technology think-tank and research institutes are situated with top class human
resources concentrated in it—16,000 personnel here hold master's or doctorate
degrees with 43 % doctorate degree holders. They work for the government or
private enterprises as researcher or higher education researchers, or work for