South Korea ranked slightly above the average in international scoreboard on innovations-related policy and achievements while flunking out on sharing economy that cannot pick up in Korea due to regulations and heavy resistance from traditional industries.

South Korea ranked 24th among 61 countries in the International Innovation Scorecard recently released by the Consumer Technology Association, the trade association representing American consumer technology industry and the organizer of the annual trade show CES.

It rates states on the critical areas of national policy, regulatory framework and infrastructure to spur new innovations.

The report identified 16 countries including Estonia, Switzerland, the United States, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Israel, Canada and Germany as ‘Innovation Champions’.

The scorecard conducted a comparative analysis of 61 countries, using 14 criteria such as university students, startup environment, research and development and tax systems.

The analysis results were announced during the trade show held on Jan. 8-11 in Las Vegas.

Korea got worst scores in car sharing as Uber-like services are illegal. Car pooling also faces strong protest from taxi drivers. The flunkers were just nine including Korea, Hungary and Greece.

Korea also received poor ratings in accommodation sharing, where Rwanda was the only country behind Korea.

In terms of the number of unicorn startup companies Korea scored C with only three such companies (Coupang, Yellow Mobile and L&P Cosmetic) picked up in the last 10 years.

By Lee Dong-in and Minu Kim

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