Innovation and Networks in Industrial Clusters: Empirical Results from Three Large Cities - Technopolis: Best Practices for Science and Technology Cities - page 264

Table 4 Innovation partner

Category Busan Gwangju Daejeon Total Sample

Universities 5.0 13.3 8.3 8.9

Research institutes 11.7 20.0 28.3 20.0

Customers 50.0 51.7 45.0 48.9

Suppliers 21.7 0.0 1.7 7.8

Supporting agencies 8.3 11.7 13.3 11.1

Others 3.4 3.3 3.3 3.3

Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Source: (Kwon et al. 2005 ) survey results (units: %)

innovating companies in other clusters, can be that the research institutes are not
sufficient in the region; that companies here are not capable enough to utilize them;
or that they do not recognize the need to cooperate. The relevance between uni-
versities and public research institutes as key actors in the innovation network is
also determined by the institutionalization of the R&D within the region.
In Daejeon and Gwangju, public policies are dominant which are targeted at the
fostering, subsidizing, or supporting the collaboration between public institutions
and business organizations. Under the circumstances, it is natural to find that
public research institutes are the most frequently used collaboration partners in the
innovation process in the Daejeon ICT industry and Gwangju photonics industry.

3.3.3 Relationship Between Innovation and Cooperation

Enterprises with a high propensity to collaborate with other partners are more
likely to experience innovation. Therefore, it is not surprising to have the result
that R&D cooperation plays a crucial role in creating innovation for businesses.
This corresponds to the study results that, in Busan, companies with experiences in
cooperation successfully created innovation while those with no experiences
hardly did (Tables 5 , 6 ).
In the process of innovation of the Busan mechanical parts and materials
industry, the R&D cooperation between customers and universities are highly
important, in particular. However, with the Daejeon ICT industry and Gwangju
photonics industry, the R&D cooperation occurs in a very natural way, and is not a
sufficient condition for innovation.

3.3.4 Spatial Levels of the R&D Cooperation

What are the relevant spatial levels of the R&D cooperation networks? It can be
classified into five types: Local, regional, SMA, national, and worldwide level. For
the Daejeon ICT firms, while the R&D cooperation with universities or research
institutes is concentrated in the local level, the customers are located in the SMA.
For the Gwangju photonics firms, the R&D cooperation of universities and