The purpose of this study is to understand of knowledge production and flows related to service innovation in Seoul and to propose the policy orientations for Seoul service innovation. This study has performed a patent analysis in order to understand the characteristics of service innovation. Patents applied over the period between the year 2000 and 2018 are analysed. Patents are grouped into the following eight industrial fields: by Highest Ranking, Communications; Manufacturing- infusion Software; Information/Software; Contents; R&D/ Engineering; Business-specialised Services; Distributions and Logistics; and Finances/Insurances. Throughout these 19 years, the constant top-tier technology was software technology, such as U-computing platform and software solutions, and Seoul manufacturing supporting technologies, such as textile-related IT technology. In addition, the newly emerging technologies in Seoul are human sensibility technology, bio software, robot-related software, and securities.
It is obvious that Seoul has been a top innovative region in Korea in terms of service patent applications. However, its dominance has decreased: the ratio of Seoul in total has decreased from 48.7 percent in 2000 to 32.4 percent in 2018. In spite of this, the network analysis of co-production and citations of patents shows that Seoul has functioned as a knowledge inventor and main cooperator along with Gyeonggi-do towards other regions.