The Korea Local Administration Review

This study suggests improvement strategies by analyzing the actual condition of the medical clusters, Osong and Daegu-Gyeongbuk, for enhancing regional competitiveness in South Korea. It was evaluated in five parts which are environmental infrastructure, condition of input, collaborative network, output, and local government’s willingness. The results of analysis can be summarized as follows. Osong Medical Cluster had weak educational infrastructure, reinforcement of outstanding human resources, and collaborative networks, comparing to Daegu-Gyeongbuk Medical Cluster. On the contrary Daegu-Gyeongbuk Medical Cluster was lack of industrial infrastructure, attracting related institutions, and research performance.
As improvement plans for each medical cluster, first of all, Osong medical cluster should recruit excellent personnel from Seoul metropolitan area. In addition, it is necessary to provide informal supports to facilitate the interaction among internal companies and institutions. On the other hand, Daegu-Gyeongbuk Medical Cluster should cooperate closely with regional medical manufacturing industries. Also, it has to work in conjunction with local educational institutions for research and development, and foster spin-off companies. Lastly, the Medical Cluster should expand public-private partnerships in the cluster network.

□ Keywords: Innovation System, Innovation Cluster, Medical Cluster, Network