From Ownership to Collaboration and Access: A Framework for a National Technology Acquisition Strategy
Institute for Future Strategy Issue Brief Vol. 46
“From Ownership to Collaboration and Access: A Framework for a National Technology Acquisition Strategy”
This Issue Brief diagnoses the limitations facing South Korea’s national technology acquisition strategy in today’s environment, where technology has emerged as a core pillar of national security and sovereignty.
Korea’s existing approach to technology acquisition has largely focused on “what” to secure—such as designating strategic technologies or setting domestic development targets for specific core technologies. However, this approach has lacked a strategic model addressing “how” technologies should be acquired and utilised in response to rapidly changing global conditions. In particular, given constraints in national capabilities as well as time and resource limitations, it is increasingly unrealistic for any single country to independently develop all critical technologies. From this perspective, true technological sovereignty does not lie in self-sufficiency, but in maximising strategic autonomy and choice within the global technology ecosystem.
Against this backdrop, the Issue Brief proposes the OCA Strategic Framework, which structures national technology acquisition pathways into three distinct types:
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Own (Independent Development): Securing technologies through direct domestic investment and public R&D.
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Collaborate (Collaboration): Co-developing technologies through international joint research and consortium-based partnerships.
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Access (Access): Rapidly acquiring external technologies through imports, licensing, or technology acquisitions.
The selection of these strategies is guided by two quantitative dimensions: external “securing pressure” and internal “capability potential.” For example, when the urgency of technology acquisition is high but domestic capability is low, an Access strategy is most appropriate; when domestic capability is high, an Own strategy is preferable; and when both securing pressure and internal capability are relatively low, a Collaborate strategy allows for efficient use of resources.
Furthermore, the Issue Brief emphasises that these strategies should not be treated as static choices. Rather, they must be dynamically adjusted through strategic switching as technological capabilities mature and external conditions evolve. To this end, it recommends the development of a data-driven, objective roadmap for securing national critical technologies, in order to enhance policy consistency and transparency.
