An Ontic Pluralist Approach to Innovation Theory: Examples from the Korean Semiconductor Industry

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  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 4: (Infra)structures

Abstract

This paper begins by examining the 'imitation to innovation' model introduced in the late 1990s, reinterpreting it through the perspective of ontological pluralism. In doing so, it transforms this model—originally a hallmark of modernity—into a concept that transcends it. The paper also emphasizes the social context of 21st-century East Asia, asserting that "East Asia has never been modern." Drawing on the Souriau-Simondon-Latour framework, it develops multiple modes grounded in ontological pluralism, which naturally lead to the concepts of instauration and assemblage. Using innovations in South Korea’s semiconductor industry as examples, the paper demonstrates how the technological trajectory evolved from initially catching up to ultimately defining Moore's Law through a heterogeneous assemblage of modes, including concepts, forms, and values. This analysis reveals the multi-scale, highly uncertain, and spatiotemporally hybrid characteristics that East Asian innovation theory must embody—reflecting the "non-modern" nature of contemporary East Asian societies and their strong resistance to being superficially categorized by the linear, modern 'imitation to innovation' model. While this model attempts to explain East Asian innovation in the 20th century, it simultaneously exposes the impossibility of imitation itself. Even current innovation efforts cannot replicate the practices of the 20th century; they are fundamentally different, both ontologically and epistemologically.

Author

• Tzung-wen Chen, National Chengchi University