Emerging industrial clusters of disaster safety industry in Korea

Disaster-related industries have become essential in strengthening both disaster resilience and national competitiveness. For more efficient disaster management, the Korean government widely integrated the disaster industry with the safety industry in 2013, calling it the “disaster safety industry.” This study examines the spatial characteristics of the disaster safety industry and its association with regional industries. In emerging industries such as disaster safety industry, there is a scarcity of information regarding intra-industry transactions, and the industry's scope is often vague, thereby restricting comprehensive analysis. To address this issue, we constructed a quasi-business transaction network that aggregates firm level data to regional level. A correlation analysis using location quotients (LQ) was conducted to determine the relationship with the existing industry. The disaster safety industry network was highly correlated with regional demand. The cluster analysis results showed that four clusters were derived around large cities in the region, which was statistically significant. As a result, these cluster formations were statistically significantly correlated with science- and technology-related industries. Although the disaster safety industry was fostered by the government, we confirmed that technological innovation based on existing industries related to science-based technology can also promote the development of the disaster safety industry.