Until recently, Korea's energy research and development has been focused on turning green energy industries into a new growth locomotive on the basis of green energy technology development. In order to take the initiative in the green industry market in the new global era, however, Korea now needs additional strategies that reflect its pending national policy goals, such as securing core green energy technologies, attaining greenhouse gas emission reduction targets, and fostering small- and medium-sized enterprises.
Accordingly, the nation is required to pursue a strategy of creating new business models and fostering corporate leaders capable of implementing the business models while shifting to a new energy R&D structure to penetrate into the global markets. By doing so, the nation will be able to better cope with the era of energy and climate change. As part of the efforts to help stimulate private sector business, a set of tailored action plans based on a comprehensive assessment of market circumstances, including global competition and corporate investment trends, should be crafted. The direction of relevant strategies should be set in accordance with such action plans.
Above all, it is necessary to select strategic products in line with large conglomerates` massive investments in new renewable energies and energy efficiency improvements. Then the government has to promote the parts and materials industry on the basis of an analysis of their distribution networks. Due to its weakness in the core parts and materials industry, Korea could lose the bulk of its state subsidies for green energy distribution projects to foreign companies. Urgent measures are needed to prevent the outflows.
Global corporate leaders in the fields of green energy technologies have created their own unique business models by coping proactively with new changes in external environments, including climate change. The leading corporations have built unrivaled strongholds on the strength of technological advancement and vertical systemization through sustained technology development. They have also positioned themselves as global front-runners by securing corporate growth engines through sound partnership with their governments.
In one instance, Vestas has unarguably grown into the world`s largest company in wind power generator systems, through preemptive technology development and overseas market expansion. The Danish wind turbine manufacturer used the outbreak of the first oil crisis as an opportunity to jump into the wind power generator system business.
Suntec, a China-based solar panel products manufacturer, has become No. 2 or 3 in the world after achieving rapid growth in domestic sales on the basis of the Chinese government`s policy to expand the supply of renewable energy. Suntec is a typical case in which a latecomer lacking in original technologies has risen to become a world leader by effectively taking advantage of government assistance and securing price competitiveness on the basis of low-cost production technologies at home.
U.S. solar panel maker First Solar Inc. aggressively invested in cadmium telluride thin film solar cells, while other companies were preparing for the commercialization of silicon solar cells. First Solar eventually developed new non-silicon cell products that have stronger competitiveness in price than silicon solar cells, rising to become the world`s leading producer of thin film solar panels.
The absence of core materials and parts and materials technologies has become an obstacle for Korean companies. Our green technology development strategy calls for devising systemic programs to foster leading global enterprises capable of securing the core parts and materials and materials technologies through innovative technology development efforts. Currently, Korea is heavily dependent on foreign products in core green technologies. The nation`s foreign dependence ratio for solar cells and light-emitting diode chips stands at 74 percent and 70 percent, respectively. In this regard, domestic small- and medium-sized firms are required to play a greater role in the supply of core green parts and materials.
Small and medium-sized and large companies in Korea are urgently required to establish a win-win cooperation structure in order to secure original technologies. Furthermore, it is also necessary to intensively foster middle-standing enterprises that are capable of making inroads into the global markets. At present, the nation`s task success rate reaches up to 98 percent but global hit products or star enterprises are extremely rare. It has yet to establish differentiated R&D strategies for small and medium-sized companies.
It is important to reflect core strategic technologies for middle-standing enterprises in the green energy technology road map, foster technology-intensive, star middle-standing enterprises and develop special R&D programs to produce top global brand products by 2015. At the same time, efforts should be made to develop innovative and original technologies that can revolutionize the market by creating new markets. An “innovative future energy technology” refers to one that can help local companies overcome current technological obstacles, achieve remarkable performance improvements, and preoccupy overseas markets by shortening the target period for commercialization.
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