Measuring Korea's lead in 5G

 There are multiple ways of empirically measuring a nation's progress in building 5G networks.  The latest report from Opensignal, entitled "Benchmarking the Global 5G Experience" provides more detail on South Korea's leadership in the implementation and adoption of 5G networks.   As shown in the graphic (click for a full size version), Korea ranks first in download speed and second in upload speed, among the ten top countries in the study.  The report also gives the nation high ranks on measures of experience (video, games, voice apps) and extent (availability, reach).

South Korea's lead in 5G

South Korea's ICT-driven development took off in the 1980s when the nation modernized and digitized its telephone network.  That is why, in recent publications, I have characterized this nation's approach as "Network-centric digital development."  It appears that this pattern will continue as next generation networks appear.   As shown in the graphic (click for a full size version) GSMA Intelligence predicts that Korea will continue to lead the world in consumer adoption of 5G through 2025.

South Korea leads the world in Bloomberg's Innovation Index

 For the seventh time in the nine years it has been published, South Korea ranked number one in the world on Bloomberg's Innovation Index.  For more detail, see the article here  (Click on the graphic at left for a full size version.) 

As shown in the table below (click on it for a full-size version), the seven criteria that make up the Bloomberg Innovation Index are as follows:   R&D Intensity, Manufacturing Value-Added, Productivity, High Tech Density, Tertiary Efficiency, Researcher Concentration, and Patent Activity.