Building a U.S.-ROK Quadruple Partnership—Aligning Innovation, Industry, Supply Chains, and Policy

Studies on the cycles of great-power ascendance and decline have emphasized technological innovation as a central factor in the rise and fall of great powers.[1] Nations that pioneer and adopt these leading sectors of technological innovation secure global leadership. In the context of a shifting geopolitical landscape, great powers are increasingly recognizing that today’s global order may be undergoing a transitional phase, in which societies that most effectively capitalize on technological advances will emerge on top.

In the United States, the Biden administration’s 2022 National Security Strategy argued that “the world is changing” and is “at a significant inflection point in world history.”[2] It emphasized that technology is central to today’s geopolitical competition and to the future of national security, the economy, and democracy.[3] Similarly, the Trump administration’s 2017 National Security Strategy clearly noted that “losing our innovation and technological edge would have far-reaching negative implications for American prosperity and power.”[4] The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has also framed the current era as a stage of this ongoing cycle of global leadership change. One of Xi Jinping’s signature phrases, “great changes unseen in a century,” emphasizes the concurrent transformation of global power dynamics and the role of technological innovations in driving these shifts. The 14th Five-Year Plan (2021–25) highlights that these changes are partly driven by a “new scientific and technological revolution” and aims for China to become a world-class innovative nation by 2035. The Republic of Korea (ROK) has also emphasized the importance of technology and prioritized policies to advance the country’s technological leadership. The Ministry of Science and ICT highlights that global technological competition centers on critical emerging technologies and that securing “science and technology sovereignty” through advanced technologies is key to driving national growth.[5]

The perception among major powers that they are at a decisive moment in the struggle for future global leadership has been a driving force in shaping today’s geopolitics of technology. With the advancement of disruptive innovations, emerging leading technologies have become pivotal battlegrounds, profoundly influencing economic, military, and geopolitical landscapes. In this context, this report focuses on batteries, biotechnology, and quantum technology as critical emerging technologies for U.S.-ROK cooperation.

Jungmi Cha is a Research Fellow at the National Assembly Futures Institute and a Visiting Professor at Yonsei University in South Korea.

NOTE: The views expressed are those of the author and do not reflect the views of any organization with which the author is affiliated.

Endnotes

[1] See, for example, Paul Kennedy, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: Economic Change and Military Conflict from 1500 to 2000 (New York: Random House, 1989); and George Modelski and William Thompson, Leading Sectors and World Powers: The Coevolution of Global Economics and Politics (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1996).

[2] White House, National Security Strategy (Washington, D.C., October 2022), 6.

[3] Ibid., 32.

[4] White House, National Security Strategy of the United States of America (Washington, D.C., December 2017), 21.

[5] Ministry of Science and ICT of the Republic of Korea (ROK), “Daehanminguk Gwahakgisulju-gwon Cheongsa-jin, Je1cha Gukgajeollyakgisul Yuseong Gibon-gyehoek (‘24–28) Surip” [Blueprint for the Science and Technology Sovereignty of the Republic of Korea, Establishment of the First Basic Plan for National Strategic Technology Development 2024–2028], August 26, 2024, https://www.msit.go.kr/bbs/view.do?mId=113&bbsSeqNo=94&nttSeqNo=3184844.