South Korea has narrowed its gap with the United States in the field of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) by 0.1 years. According to the “2022 ICT Level Survey and Technology Competitiveness Analysis Report” by the Institute of Information & Communications Technology Planning & Evaluation (IITP), which compared and analyzed the competitiveness of 74 technologies in 18 key areas and 289 sub-technologies across South Korea, the U.S., Japan, China, and Europe on March 10, the United States boasted the highest average level of ICT as of 2022, with South Korea achieving 90.0% of the U.S. level.
The report highlighted that South Korea’s ICT level had increased by 0.4 percentage points from 89.6% the previous year, and the average technology gap with the U.S. had decreased from 1.1 years in 2021 to 1.0 years in 2022. South Korea maintained its 4th place ranking among the five regions, following Europe at 93.8%, China at 92.2%, and Japan at 88.6%, with the technology gap between South Korea and the U.S., Europe, China, and Japan recorded at 0.7 years, 0.8 years, and 1.2 years, respectively.
In the 18 key areas, the U.S. dominated in 17 areas, with only quantum information communication, where Europe was evaluated as having the top technology, standing out as an exception. South Korea showed improvement in 14 areas compared to the previous year, particularly making rapid advancements in big data and autonomous driving technologies.
In the big data sector, South Korea’s technology level was at 89.2% compared to the U.S., up 1.2 percentage points from the previous year, securing 3rd place. In the autonomous driving sector, South Korea’s level jumped by 1.0 percentage points to 89.4% compared to the U.S. However, South Korea’s mobile telecommunications technology, which had consistently recorded 97.8% for three consecutive years, slightly declined by 0.3 percentage points to 97.5% in 2022, still maintaining 3rd place behind the U.S. and China (98.5%).
Regarding artificial intelligence, the U.S. expanded its lead over other countries, supported by the capabilities of leading mega AI companies like Google and OpenAI. South Korea’s AI technology level slightly decreased from 89.1% in 2021 to 88.9% in 2022, yet this was the smallest drop compared to other countries. China, Europe, and Japan saw decreases of 0.8 percentage points, 0.5 percentage points, and 0.7 percentage points, respectively.