Korean agriculture and rural communities are faced with many challenges, such as a wider opening of the domestic agricultural market and deterioration of profitability due to price increase of raw commodities. In addition, the aging problem of farmers is worsening. As of 2012, the average age of farmers is 64.4 years old and the natural resources in rural regions are not effectively used. As a result, farm income declined, and creation of value added and new jobs is at a snail’s pace.
In the past, previous governments, too, have made multi-faceted efforts to vitalize agriculture and rural communities, such as investment in technology and development, deregulation, and providing support to attract new labor. Still, the difficulties faced by agriculture and rural communities still remain a challenge. Thus, it is necessary to find out the reasons for not effectively responding to the pending issues and examine first what tasks should be taken to improve the way that the issues are dealt with. If the newly advancing science and technology are systematically connected with agriculture and rural communities, the pending issues can be resolved and a new growth strategy that can contribute to rural growth and job creation from the country’s economic standpoint can be made. In other words, it is time to prepare a new method of approach that can create synergy by systematically combining natural resources in rural regions with innovative capabilities, new technologies, and innovative ideas sprung from work sites.
The Park Geun-hye government has presented a new, creative economy-based approach as a strategy for national economic growth and job creation. At the heart of this creative economy is ‘convergence’ and ‘practice’. The creative economic strategy to enhance rural vitality entails multi-functional convergence of rural resources with innovative technologies, finding of new engines of growth through field application, job creation, and invigoration of local economy. Now it is necessary to actively seek a new strategy of growth that is based on creative economy and that can stimulate a new rural growth by combining science and technology with rural natural resources, local cultural assets, and creative ideas of workers and by interconnecting the industries such as agriculture, processing, and the service industry.
In order for the new growth strategy to properly function in real life, it is necessary to build an ecosystem for creative economy. The ecosystem here is defined as an economic community where all individuals and organizations within a given environment interact and advance toward a shared vision. In other words, in a creative economy, internal resources of agriculture and rural communities, as well as innovative ideas from work sites, converge with science and technology, and all the participants share the understanding that it is a new growth strategy of virtuous cycle where job creation and sustainable growth are possible, and where the ability to constantly practice the idea must be fostered. In addition, efforts should also be made to drastically improve the systems and regulations that may hinder the virtuous cycle of growth.
To this end, the following policy suggestions can be made. First, the most important thing in invigorating the base for creative economy is to mobilize creative capacity in rural areas and foster creative human resources that can put the capacity into practice, and active efforts should be made to develop human resources that can incorporate new science and technology into agriculture and generate innovative ideas. At the work sites in rural areas, various forms of learning organizations are in operation, and it is necessary to develop support measures that can inspire the participants to become creative human resources.
Second, the investment and financing method for research and development, too, should be transformed into one that can support the strategy for creative economy- based growth. The R&D investment led by the central government has made many achievements such as self-sufficiency of rice, but today it should be understood that innovative technologies are developed at work sites instead. The performance indicator of R&D should be placed on how much added values were created through convergence with new technologies and to what extent the difficulties at work sites have been removed, rather than on taking an approach focused on how much investment the government has made from the budget. To do this, it is necessary to establish a R&D system that facilitates division of roles between the government and the private sector.

Third, in order to achieve a creative economy in agriculture and rural areas, it is necessary to build a governance system where convergence, cooperation and partnerships can be made. And it is necessary to build Creative Agro-Enterprise Network, a unified system of virtuous cycle where research performance of universities and research institutions is combined with agriculture and rural communities to create jobs and where added values are created and innovative ideas from work sites are reused as materials for research.
Fourth, when a country pursues a new growth based on creative economy, new products and ideas are created and there will be limitations to providing appropriate support with the existing regulations and systems. Therefore, it is necessary to reform systems and regulations that may act as constraints to the development of a creative economy’s base. In addition, it is necessary to expand the business recovery assistance system as a means to recognize diligent failures and develop measures to provide capital support so that venture capital can easily flow into agricultural business entities that wish to make new business attempts.


Researchers: Joon-kee Park, Yong-Yeol Kim, Myong-Ki Lee,
Yoon-Hyung Kim, Jong-Yeol Yoon
Research period: 2013. 5. - 2013. 6.
E-mail address: jkpark@krei.re.kr