Daejeon
Government built a science city from scratch (1973). Daedeok Innopolis: 30+ research institutes, 12,000 PhDs, 1,500 spinoff companies. ETRI invented CDMA technology. 10% of Korea's patents from 1% of population.
No city better illustrates deliberate niche construction than Daejeon. In 1973, South Korea's military government chose this unremarkable railway junction to build a purpose-designed science city—Daedeok Innopolis—betting that concentrating researchers in one place would generate the knowledge spillovers that transformed Silicon Valley. The bet paid off.
Daejeon's location was its qualification: central enough to reach Seoul or Busan within two hours, but distant enough that researchers couldn't commute to the capital and moonlight at corporate jobs. The Gyeongbu Expressway and KTX high-speed rail (from 2004) connected Daejeon to everywhere while preserving its independence. Geography as laboratory containment.
Daedeok Science Town started with five government research institutes in the 1970s. It now hosts over 30 government-funded research organizations, including KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology), ETRI (Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute), and the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute. Over 12,000 PhD-level researchers work within a 28-square-kilometer zone—one of the highest concentrations of doctoral-level talent anywhere on Earth.
The results compound. ETRI developed the CDMA mobile technology that launched Samsung and LG's phone empires. KAIST graduates founded companies across Korea's tech sector. Daedeok spinoffs number over 1,500 companies. The pattern mimics biological founder effects: the initial government investment created conditions that attracted private research centers, which attracted venture capital, which attracted more talent.
Daejeon produces roughly 10% of South Korea's total patent output from less than 1% of its population. The city's GDP per capita exceeds the national average by over 20%, driven almost entirely by knowledge-sector employment.
Daejeon tests whether a government-planned innovation district can evolve beyond its founding mandate—whether designed ecosystems develop the organic messiness that makes natural ones resilient.