韩国的创意经济 South Korea aims for creative economy to end reliance on chaebol

As a state-run programming contest gets under way in a modernist glass building close to Seoul, a few dozen 20-somethings roam the venue, clad in black or white T-shirts and hoping their coding skills will win them a share of the Won27m ($24,000) prize money.

在邻近首尔的一幢现代主义风格的玻璃幕墙大楼里，一场由政府组织的编程大赛正在进行，几十位20多岁的年轻人在会场上走动，身穿黑色或白色T恤，期待自己的编程技能赢得2700万韩元（合2.4万美元）奖金的一部分。

The event is hosted by the creative economy centre at Bundang, south of South Korea’s capital. It is one of a network of 17 such institutions being rolled out across the country that offer workspace, funding and advice to start-ups and budding entrepreneurs.

此次比赛由首尔以南的创新经济中心盆唐(Bundang)主办。盆唐是韩国在全国设立的17个创新中心中的一员，向初创企业和初露头角的企业家提供办公场所、资金和建议。

Along with a new ministry of future planning, the centres are the most visible manifestation of the government’s “creative economy” agenda — President Park Geun-hye’s drive to foster start-ups and ease the country’s economic reliance on a small number of large business groups, known as chaebols, such as Samsung and Hyundai.

这些创新中心与韩国新设的未来规划部，都是韩国政府“创意经济”议程的最明显体现。韩国总统朴槿惠(Park Geun-hye)计划借助这项议程，培育初创企业，减轻该国经济对少数大企业集团的依赖，这些大企业被称为财阀，例如三星(Samsung)和现代(Hyundai)。

The push follows four consecutive years of growth below 4 per cent — unusually slow by South Korean standards — sparking concern that the country may struggle to close the gap with the world’s richest economies. Attention has focused on the weakness of the small and medium-sized business sector, which has fallen steadily behind the country’s manufacturing giants in terms of productivity.

韩国经济增速已连续4年低于4%，按照韩国的标准低得异乎寻常，这令外界担心，韩国可能难以弥补与全球最富经济体之间的差距。韩国政府的注意力放在中小企业的劣势方面，这些企业的生产率与该国制造业巨擘之间的距离越来越大。

Half a century ago, the president’s father, military ruler Park Chung-hee, put the chaebols at the heart of his transformative industrial policy. Now, in a twist that demonstrates the lingering influence of the state over the conglomerates, Ms Park has enlisted the country’s leading business groups in her own signature economic push: this time aimed at curbing their dominance by fostering a new generation of businesses.

半个世纪以前，朴槿惠的父亲、军事统治者朴正熙(Park Chung-hee)把这些财阀列为其工业政策改革的核心。如今，朴槿惠动员韩国领先企业集团配合她的标志性经济计划：这一次的目标是通过培育新一代企业来削弱财阀的霸主地位，这突显出韩国政府对这些综合企业仍有影响力。

The centre at Bundang, for example, is run by telecoms group KT, which is providing most of the operation’s Won6.2bn annual budget and has deployed experienced staff to run it. “That one costs $40,000, that one costs $50,000 . . . that big one is $100,000,” says Ju Young-beom, one of those staff, pointing to 3D printers provided for the seven start-ups enjoying rent-free space in the building.

举例来说，设在盆唐的创新中心由韩国电信(KT)管理，在该中心62亿韩元的年度预算中，韩国电信提供了其中的大部分资金，并派出有经验的员工管理。其中一名员工Ju Young-beom指着为7家在这座大楼享受零租金待遇的初创企业提供的3D打印机说：“这台价格为4万美元，那台5万美元……大的那台是10万美元。”

Each of the other 16 centres has been put under one of the country’s leading chaebols. Samsung Electronicshas set up two centres in the southeastern cities of Daegu and Gumi, while Hyundai Motorhas done so in the southwestern city of Gwangju. Ms Park has attended the launch of each of the 12 opened so far.

其他16家创新中心也都由韩国领先财阀之一运营。三星电子(Samsung Electronics)在东南部城市大邱和龟尾开设了两家创新中心，现代汽车(Hyundai Motor)也在西南部城市光州设立了创新中心。朴槿惠参加了目前已开设的全部12家创新中心的开业仪式。

But critics of the scheme question whether the business culture of the chaebols — which emerged as state-fostered, largely heavy industrial concerns — makes them best placed to nurture the sort of creative, dynamic start-ups able to compete with those emerging from Silicon Valley.

但批评该计划的人士质疑，这些财阀的企业文化（由政府培育，大部分为重工业企业）究竟是否适合培育那种富有活力和创造力、能够与来自硅谷的企业竞争的初创企业？

“Hierarchy and habit are very important parts of Korean corporate life,” says Chung Yeon-woo, a professor at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology who was previously a senior car designer at Hyundai.

韩国蔚山科学技术大学(Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology)教授、曾经在现代担任高级汽车设计师的Chung Yeon-woo表示：“等级制度和习惯是韩国企业界非常重要的组成部分。”

The network could end up undermining its stated goal by hardening the grip of the chaebols on the economy, he warns. “In the end, all the small companies with good ideas will be bought by the big companies,” Mr Chung says, “and those left will not be the really good ones.”

他警告称，这个网络最终反而可能加大这些财阀对经济的掌控，从而破坏其宣告的目标。“到最后，那些拥有优秀创意的小企业都会被大企业收购，”他表示，“剩下的不会是真正优秀的企业。”

Such acquisitions would “not necessarily be a bad thing”, says Lee Je-joon, the official tasked with overseeing the creative economy centres at the future planning ministry.

韩国未来规划部负责监督创新经济中心的官员Lee Je-joon表示，此类并购“不一定是坏事”。

In a recent report on South Korean start-ups, the consultancy McKinsey cited the chaebols’ lack of interest in acquiring small companies as a major factor deterring investment in the latter and slowing “the circulation of capital and human resources”. Among South Korean start-up owners who sold equity in their companies in 2013, only 0.4 per cent did so through takeovers, compared with 61 per cent in the US, it said.

在最近一份有关韩国初创企业的报告中，咨询公司麦肯锡(McKinsey)把财阀缺乏收购小公司的兴趣列为阻碍对小公司投资以及减缓“资本和人力资源流通”的一个重要因素。报告称，在2013年出售公司股本的韩国初创企业所有者中，只有0.4%是通过收购完成的，而美国的这个比例高达61%。

Rallying investor interest is a major plank of the creative economy agenda. Seoul has rolled out new funding schemes, including a state-backed fund with about $4bn in capital, with much of the cash dispensed through mechanisms that “match” venture capital injections up to seven times over.

提振投资者兴趣是韩国创意经济议程的一个主要方面。韩国政府推出了新的融资计划，包括一只由政府支持的基金，拥有大约40亿美元资本，其中相当大一部分资金是与风投配合发放的，最多达到风投注资规模的7倍。

This appears to have helped spur significant growth in the sector. Venture capital funds in South Korea raised Won2.5tn last year, triple the amount in 2012, according to the Korea Venture Capital Association.

此举似乎帮助推动了韩国风投行业的大幅增长。根据韩国风投协会(Korea Venture Capital Association)的数据，去年，韩国风投基金募资2.5万亿韩元，是2012年的3倍。

Government financial support has also helped drive a proliferation of start-up incubators and accelerators in Seoul’s upmarket Gangnam area — some of which are competing with the state-backed centres to support budding companies.

政府资金支持还帮助推动了首尔高档地段江南区初创企业孵化器和加速器的增多，其中一些机构正与由政府支持的创新中心竞相向初创企业提供支持。

The latest was launched by Google, which this year set up Campus Seoul, providing workspace for eight of the 150 local start-ups that applied. The companies — some of which have benefited from the government’s funding schemes — receive advice and support from Maru 180, a non-profit venture established by the shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries before Ms Park came to power.

最新项目是由谷歌(Google)发起的，今年谷歌创建了首尔创业校园(Campus Seoul)，为提出申请的150家本地初创企业中的8家提供办公场所。这些公司（其中一些已受益于韩国政府的融资计划）获得了由非盈利风投机构Maru 180的建议和扶持，Maru 180是由造船企业现代重工(Hyundai Heavy Industries)在朴槿惠上台之前创建的。

“We believe that investing in these economies is going to produce financial return for us down the road, when more companies are created, coming online, using the internet, using Google,” says Mary Grove, head of Google for Entrepreneurs, a unit of Google that supports start-ups in more than 100 countries.

在100多个国家支持初创企业的谷歌旗下部门Google for Entrepreneurs主管玛丽•格罗夫(Mary Grove)表示：“我们认为，投资于这些经济体未来将为我们带来经济回报，届时会有更多的企业创建、上线、利用互联网、使用谷歌。”

South Korea already ranks among the top five producers of mobile apps for Google’s Android smartphone system, she says, with the number of IT start-ups increasing by an average of 10 per cent a year over the past four years.

她表示，韩国已列在谷歌安卓(Android)智能手机操作系统的五大移动应用生产国之列，过去4年，IT初创企业数量平均每年增加10%。

South Korea’s conglomerates, by contrast, showed little interest in supporting start-ups before the new policy push, says Ryu Jung-hee, chief executive of FuturePlay, an accelerator providing funding and technical support to start-ups in Seoul. “It’s not organic, not natural [for them],” he says.

向首尔初创企业提供资金和技术支持的加速器机构FuturePlay首席执行官Ryu Jung-hee表示，相比之下，在政府发起新的政策努力之前，韩国企业集团对于扶持初创企业没什么兴趣。他表示：“（对他们来说），这么做不自然，不正常。”

But attitudes have changed. Ihm Jong-tae, who heads the creative economy centre run by SK, the country’s third-biggest chaebol, in the western city of Daejeon, says: “There aren’t many things that SK can do alone any more. The group needs to change its portfolio, and open innovation is one of the most feasible ways to do that.”

但这些大企业的态度已发生变化。为韩国第三大财阀SK在韩国西部城市大田执掌创新经济中心的Ihm Jong-tae表示：“SK依靠一己之力能做的事情不是很多了。集团需要改变其业务组合，而开放式创新是最可行的方法之一。”

Mr Ihm leads the way to a 3D printer room at the Daejeon centre and points out a prototype camera case printed by The S, an action camera maker that is one of 10 start-ups hosted there.

Ihm Jong-tae把记者带到了大田创新中心的一个3D打印室，指着一个由运动型摄像机制造商The S打印的相机包原型。该公司是入住该中心的10家初创企业之一。

“Traditional Korean culture is that the big companies are the kings and the small ones are their servants,” says Lee Min-gu, co-founder of The S, which is hoping to win a grant of Won200m from SK in exchange for 1.5 per cent of its revenue over the next five years. “But I think it’s changing, it’s getting better.”

“在韩国传统文化中，大企业是国王，小企业是仆人，”The S联席创始人Lee Min-gu表示，“但我认为情况在发生变化，变得更好。”The S希望从SK获得2亿韩元的拨款，作为交换，SK将获得该公司未来5年收入的1.5%。