本文討論台灣與南韓在科技創新上的差異，並以兩國在美國登記的專利資料，來分析台灣與南韓在創新上的表現。本文發現這二國家從1990年代之後，都展現了高度的創新能力，在專利數的獲取上，甚至超過傳統先進國家。但是二國也在專利項目和獲取模式上表現了很大的差異：台灣的個人和中小企業佔很高的比例，而南韓則是以大型財閥為主；電子電機類在台灣與南韓都佔所有六大類別中的第一位，但是南韓的專利高度集中在該項產業，而台灣則是較為分散，傳統的機械業也在專利的獲取上佔有重要地位。這樣的差異，主要源自二國科技追趕的體制，台灣的體制過去是以中小企業而南韓則是以大財閥為主的體制。這樣的追趕體制也塑造了二國在邁向創新過程時，所展現的不同途徑—南韓傾向大企業領導的模式，而台灣則是大型企業與中小企業共存的網絡式聚集經濟。

This paper discusses different patterns of innovation, and their institutional paths in Taiwan and South Korea. By using the USPTO patent data as indicators of innovation, this paper finds that both Taiwan and South Korea have progressed rapidly in terms technological innovation since the 1990s, overtaking many of the advanced countries. Nevertheless, there are major differences in the patenting behavior: while individuals and small and medium sized enterprises （SMEs） comprised of a large part of patents in Taiwan, the chaebols are the major contributors of South Korea's patents. Moreover, although electrics and electronics are the sectors that gain most of the patents in both countries, Taiwan's patents are more dispersed into other sectors while South Korean counterparts are heavily concentrated in the electronics sector alone. These differences, this paper argues, come mainly from the institutional roots of their economic catching up era in which Taiwan was based on a SMEs-dominant industrial structure while the South Korean was the Chaebol-based, instead. This paper further argues that the institutional roots have largely shaped both countries’ diverse roads toward innovation-based economy: the South Korean case is transitioning toward a scale-based model where big firms are the major actors of innovation; while the Taiwanese one is transforming toward a densely networked cluster model in which both big firms and SMEs are major actors.