South Korea, World No. 5 in International Patent "Renovation Score"

Korea was ranked as the World no. 5 on the total national innovation score" in 2002 caculated on the basis of the total number of international patents applied, the Financial Times reported yesterday.

CHI research, a consultacy based in New Jersey, caculated the total renovation score for each countrybased on the number of patents applied in the United States and Korea took the fifth place after the U.S., Japan, German, and Twaiwan.

On the result, Georges Haour, a professor at IMD, the Swiss business school, said "the leap forward by Taiwan and South Korea is really no surprize because they have made trenmendous efforts in areas such as consumer electonics and machinery, where patentng is important.

U.S. showed strong in fields centered on on high-technology areas such as computers and telecommunications while Japan showed its stenth particularly in office equipment and cameras, the paper added.

havefun@donga.com