Our country's knowledge service exports have shown double-digit growth every year since 2010, indicating rapid growth. This is due to the increased global competitiveness of cultural content such as K-pop, webtoons, and games.
Knowledge services refer to services that are knowledge-intensive and primarily traded in digital form. They consist largely of licensing fees for intellectual property rights, professional and business services, information and communication services, and cultural and leisure services.
According to the BOK Issue Note titled 'Current Status and Future Direction of Our Service Exports' published by the Bank of Korea on the 20th, our knowledge service exports increased by an average of 13.4% annually from 2010 to 2024. The share of total service exports also significantly rose from 7.6% in 2010 to 26.5% last year.
By sector, information and communication services showed the highest growth rate, increasing by an average of 18.1%. Cultural and leisure services (15.7%), licensing fees for intellectual property rights (12.9%), and professional business services (12.3%) followed.
Researchers assessed that the high growth rate of knowledge service exports is attributed to the convergence of the manufacturing and service sectors. Our corporations sell products such as automobiles and smartphones while also providing cloud, artificial intelligence (AI) services, and software. This is rapidly becoming a catalyst for the convergence of manufacturing and service sectors.
The global popularity of Hallyu content has had a positive impact. The gaming industry is steadily expanding its global market share, and K-pop continues to produce popular artists, increasing global recognition. The webtoon industry leads the global market.
Researchers noted that 'the convergence of manufacturing and services is rapidly spreading across various industrial sectors,' stating, 'The success of cultural content is creating positive ripple effects that go beyond mere service consumption to various industries.'
However, the growth rate of total service exports, including knowledge service exports, has been sluggish. Service exports have only increased by an average of 3.8% annually since 2010. This rate is lower than those of emerging countries such as India and China, as well as advanced countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany. Consequently, the share in the global market decreased from 1.9% in 2010 to 1.6% in 2023.
This is because our country's service exports are merely supporting goods exports, making them sensitive to external factors such as global economic fluctuations. Transportation services and technical-trade services, which make up a large portion of service exports, have a high correlation with goods exports. Other business services also rely on transactions between domestic headquarters of manufacturing companies and their overseas subsidiaries.
Researchers emphasized that in order to expand service exports, corporations must shift their investments away from manufacturing facilities and construction sectors to increase investments in intangible assets such as data and intellectual property (IP). They also mentioned that attracting research and development investments from advanced countries and strengthening global partnerships is important.
It has been advised that the government should ease regulations that hinder the convergence between industries. Under the current system, manufacturing and service industries are strictly separated, causing issues where government support benefits cannot be received when transitioning industries. Researchers stated that boundaries between industries should be removed to support corporations in engaging freely in convergence activities.