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Last Tuesday, a group of 20-odd CEOs of Korean IT and medical venture firms viewed a desolate desert along the western coast of Dubai, one of the United Arab Emirates. Though only one road has been built there so far, this is the proposed site of the Dubai Techno Park, the first high-tech industrial estate in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
"Nearby this location is the world's eighth largest port and the proposed site of an airport," explained a senior local executive to the Korean visitors. "The building site will be rent free for 15 years. Not only power and water but also cooling will be supplied at low cost. No corporate or income tax will be levied at all. Foreign investors may own 100 percent of equity, remit all their earnings, and face no employment restrictions. There exists no other such excellent business lot in the world." Why is Dubai, where the wealth of the Middle East and much of the rest of the world is said to be gathering, so eager to attract Korean venture firms?
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The building site for Dubai Techno Park. Research, development and production facilities will be constructed on this strip of desert by 2010 to attract high-tech companies from around the world.
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Dubai Techno Park is an idea crafted in 2002 by UAE Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum, who achieved "the miracle of the desert" that is Dubai. Sheikh Mohammed asserted that Dubai should be made a science and technology center by creating an investment environment capable of attracting high-tech manufacturing and research development facilities. His plan called for upgrading "the city of dreams" built on a dreary desert into "a high-tech science and technology city." Dubai has replaced its oil-dependent economy with a "hub economy" centered on logistics, tourism and finance. Sales of petroleum now account for less than 9 percent of the Dubai economy, while logistics, tourism and finance services make up 70 percent. But the hub economy, too, must eventually face the limits of growth before long, Sheik Mohammed perceived.
Surprisingly enough, they are trying to learn Korean know-how. That's why they are trying to attract Korean venture businesses. They have an eye on IT, bio and medical venture firms, in particular.
"We are deeply interested in the secrets of success of Korean IT and bio venture firms and Korea's venture business fostering policy," said Dubai Techno Park's managing director Hamad Al Hashemi. Sheik Mohammed, in the wake of his visit to Seoul last year, is said to have instructed his officials to seek high-tech cooperation with Korea. By inviting Korean venture companies, they intend to make them a pillar and model in their high-tech industry and in the process learn policy expertise for fostering ultra-modern industry.
"Dubai has thus far benchmarked Singapore, but the next model might be Korea," commented the chairman of the Korea Technology Transfer Center, Lee Min-hwa. "It's a sort of meeting between the miracle of the desert and the miracle of the Han River."
The Dubai government has allocated to Dubai Techno Park an important lot of 21 million sq.m between Jebel Ali, the world's eighth largest port by cargo volume and a free trade zone, and Dubai World Central International Airport, which will have a total of six runways. The Dubai government has also set aside a venture investment fund of US$300 million and entrusted its management with the Korea Technology Investment Corp. (KTIC).
"Dubai investors have shown high interest in the know-how of KTIC, which has successfully fostered Korean venture companies over 20 years," said Shu Kap-soo, KTIC chairman. KTIC plans to invest about $135 million, or 45 percent of the venture investment fund, in Korean venture firms. Park Byung-gun, KTIC senior general manager, said, "Our advance into Dubai, the hub of MENA, will be a major stepping stone for the globalization of the Korean venture industry."
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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