Abstract for: Regional Strategic Industry (RSI) Promotion Projects and Their Impact on Regional Economic Growth

This study tries to measure the direct and indirect effects of the Regional Strategic Industry (RSI) promotion projects in Chungbuk Province in Korea. In specific, it critically examines whether there exists policy consistency and connectivity between the hardware-oriented Stage I and the software-centered Stage II RSI promotion projects. Major findings are as follows: Firstly, ‘the continuous investment' is regarded as the most crucial policy leverage for the strategic industry promotion and regional economic growth. Secondly, without exceptions, the RSI promotion projects should switch their evaluation criteria to performance-oriented ones. This paper suggests a series of candidates including job creation, patent application, manpower training, and pilot production and sales, all of which would significantly contribute to budgetary efficiency. Thirdly, in selecting their subprojects, the RSI promotion projects should pay due attention to evaluating technology value and marketability. Fourthly, it should put policy priority in strengthening cluster networking and interconnectivity among projects, inevitably supporting a selective number of virtuous network systems. Fifthly, auxiliary projects such as marketing, technology aid, and knowledge-based services should not be overlooked.