South Korea ranks 19th in a technology power index for bio-engineering patents registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

The Korean Intellectual Property Office produced the technology index rankings by multiplying the number and influence of international patents in the bio-engineering sector registered with the U.S. office from 1985 to 2004.

The U.S. topped the index, trailed by Japan, Germany and the United Kingdom.

On "technological independence", referring to how much a country relies on domestic technology in R&D, the U.S. scored the highest at 79.6 percent. Japan was next at nearly 40 percent while South Korea was far behind at 11.5 percent.