Report

Institute for Future Strategy, Seoul National University
IFS Working Paper 2024-01
“A Measurement Framework and International Comparison of Technological Sovereignty”

Amid global supply chain disruptions, growing attention is being paid to whether nations can sustain the industries essential to their economic and strategic needs. As the U.S.–China technology dispute intensifies, the possession of critical technologies that underpin key industries has become a major concern. The concept that encapsulates this concern is technological sovereignty. With governments around the world prioritizing technological sovereignty, various related policies have been introduced. However, most of these policies are still grounded in qualitative or fragmented evidence, lacking systematic measurement frameworks.

This study defines the three core components of technological sovereignty as innovation capacity, production capacity, and supply chain independence, and presents an operational definition and measurement framework for assessing each element as well as their composite level. Using publicly available data—specifically international patent filings, export volumes, and import data—the study quantifies and compares technological sovereignty levels across countries. The proposed framework allows for not only cross-national comparisons, but also cross-sectoral analyses within a single country. It can further be applied to industry-specific international comparisons, illustrated here through an empirical analysis of the semiconductor industry.

The results show that the strengths and weaknesses of each country vary across the components of technological sovereignty, demonstrating that no single standardized model can adequately capture or enhance technological sovereignty. Instead, policies must be context-specific and tailored to each nation’s unique industrial and strategic conditions.

Keywords:
Technological sovereignty, innovation capacity, production capacity, supply chain independence, technological competition, semiconductor industry, international comparison