Emerging opportunities

Nanoelectronics and engineering research in a South Korean university

Bibliographic Data

ID14800507
AuthorsHyungsub Choi (0000-0002-0664-7097, Russian State Agrarian Correspondence University, corresponding author)
Year2014
Volume30
Issue4
Pages334-353
Publication date2014-10-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueHistory and Technology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0734-1512 • E-ISSN: 1477-2620
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/07341512.2015.1008961
OpenAlexW2051210721
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited26

The Seoul National University Nanoelectronics Institute (SNI) was established in 1996 by an interdisciplinary team of university researchers working together to develop a practical fabrication method for ‘tera-level’ single-electron semiconductor devices. The technical and organizational experiment of the SNI ended abruptly with the Asian financial crisis of 1997 as LG Semiconductor, SNI's patron, faced difficulties. This paper places this episode within the historical context of the development of science and technology in post-liberation South Korea as it coped with the overwhelming forces of globalization since the late 1970s. As the global high-tech trade war escalated in the 1980s, the South Korean government pursued the ‘technology drive policy,’ which emphasized the importance of directed basic research in university laboratories. The increased public and private support for university research transformed a few elite universities from teaching-oriented to research-focused institutions, especially in engineering and science. The new generation of research-intensive academics spearheaded the new national strategy of leapfrogging into the cutting-edge of global technology for the first time in the nation’s modern history

Economic growth · Economics · Elite · Engineering ethics · Globalization · Leapfrogging · Nanoelectronics · Nanotechnology · Political science · Sociology · Engineering · Nanotechnology research and applications · Public Administration · University-Industry-Government Innovation Models