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The development of the digital economy in China facilitates the transformation of old and new growth drivers. It can greatly promote the upgrading of technological innovation capacity, realize economies of scale and scope, and constantly promote the generation of new industries and new forms of business with the deep integration of digital economy and traditional industries, thereby promoting the high-quality development of China's economy. This paper uses inter-provincial panel data from 2013 to 2020 and a dynamic spatial Durbin model to quantify the impact of the digital economy on regional technological innovation capability (RTIC). The results show that: (1) the digital economy has positive spatial spillover effect and can boost the province's and neighboring provinces' regional technological innovation capability; (2) regional technological innovation capability has obvious spatial and temporal aggregation effects; (3) the impact of the digital economy on RTIC is mainly short-term effects, and there is regional heterogeneity, with the western region experiencing the highest effects and the eastern region experiencing less. Therefore, it is urgent to accelerate the development speed of the digital economy, grasp the law of dynamic economic development, identify the regional heterogeneity of the digital economy development, and deepen inter-regional digital technology cooperation to comprehensively drive the improvement of regional technological innovation capability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2011 to 2019, this paper uses a two-stage DEA model to measure regional innovation efficiency, then non-parametric test is used to examine the impact of innovation network structure and government R&D investment on regional innovation efficiency. The results show that, at the provincial level, innovation efficiency of regional R&D is not necessarily in direct proportion to the innovation efficiency in the commercialization stage. Commercialization efficiency is not necessarily high in provinces with high technical R&D efficiency. At the national level, the innovation efficiency gap between our country's R&D and commercialization stage is small, indicating that the development of the national innovation efficiency is more and more balanced. Innovation network structure can promote the R&D efficiency, but has no significant effect on the commercialization efficiency. Government R&D investment helps to improve the R&D efficiency, but it is not conducive to the improvement of commercialization efficiency. The interaction between innovation network structure and government R&D investment will have compound effects on regional innovation efficiency; the region with underdeveloped innovation network structure can increase the government R&D investment to make it have a higher level of R&D. This paper provides insights into how to improve innovation efficiency in different social networks and policy environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the continuous promotion of China's innovation-driven development strategy, the role of technological innovation on economic development has become increasingly important. In this context, the support of R&D capital investment for technological innovation also becomes non-negligible. This leads to the question of whether the allocation of R&D capital is reasonable and whether there is room for further improvement. This paper is based on inter-provincial panel data from 2009 to 2020, which are classified based on China's National Bureau of Statistics for R&D funding sources in high-tech industries and incorporated into an overall discussion framework. Using STATA16 statistical software, the R&D innovation output of high-tech industries is inves-tigated by building a PVAR model with the perspective of funding sources of R&D input intensity. The study results show that (1) the increase in the intensity of enterprises' own capital investment has a positive impact on innovation output because it can generate a financial "reservoir" effect to support technological innovation. (2) the increase in the intensity of government capital invest-ment has a positive impact on innovation output because it can alleviate the loss of income of en-terprises due to "R&D spillover" and will send a positive signal to the market. (3) the foreign in-vestment intensity has a positive impact on the innovation output of enterprises due to the com-bined effect of "spillover effect" and "crowding out effect". (4) the increase of other capital in-vestment intensity also has a neutral effect on the increase of innovation output under the current financial market environment. Finally, based on the above findings, corresponding policy impli-cations are drawn. This study will help to improve the understanding of R&D capital allocation imbalance and R&D input and output issues in developing countries and provide a reference for policy makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluated 72 universities' performance innovation during 2011 to 2019 of panel data, using the data envelopment analysis–Malmquist method. The study used benchmark regression to analyse the relationship between digital finance and the universities' innovation performance. The aim was to improve innovation performance and promote national innovation across countries. According to the results of the empirical analysis, digital finance positively affects innovation performance. That finding was confirmed through advanced robustness test evaluation, such as limited information maximum likelihood, two-stage least squares, and interactive fixed effects. Moreover, based on information theory, the digital finance influence mechanism improves credit demand and financial efficiency. Additionally, innovation performance survived spatial overflow effects. Lastly, the paper concludes with some implications for improving digital financial coverage and constructing innovation networks among universities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recombination innovation invented during organizations' research and development (R&D) collaborations is a vital mechanism for creating new technological knowledge for organizations. This study aims to reveal the contribution mechanism of different dimensions of proximity to the recombination innovation at the collaborative dyad level and how this mechanism depends on the characteristics of organizations' knowledge base structuration. We conceptualize that the interdependence among knowledge elements in the knowledge base forms the knowledge space of the organization and build a theoretical framework to explain the interactive effect of proximity and organizations' knowledge base characteristics on collaborative recombination innovation. We validated the theoretical hypotheses using Logit regression models based on the longitudinal data of 150 organizations in the global nanotechnology industry. As demonstrated by our findings, technological proximity exerts a negative effect, while geographic proximity exerts an inverted U-shaped effect on collaborative organizations' joint recombination innovation. Organizations' knowledge base decomposability plays a negative role in moderating the effect of technological proximity and plays a positive role in regulating the effect of geographic proximity. In contrast, the degree centrality of the knowledge elements positively moderates the effect of both technological and geographic proximity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an important means of environmental regulation, environmental punishment lacks in empirical evidence on its impact on regional green technology innovation in China. Based on panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2010 to 2020, this paper systematically examines the relationship between environmental punishment and regional green technology innovation. It is found that environmental punishment has the quantity and quality enhancing effects on regional green technology innovation, and the quantity enhancing effect is greater than the quality enhancing effect. There is no significant effect difference between monetary punishment and non monetary punishment on green technology innovation effect, but the effect of punishment on institutions is obviously greater than that of punishment on individuals. And the performance of ecological provinces and provinces with better legal environment is also relatively better. Environmental punishment enhances the quantity and quality of green technology innovation through pressure, and improves the quality of green technology innovation through deterrence. Besides, in China, deterrence promotes regional green technology innovation together with the Central Government's environmental protection inspection, the national green manufacturing strategies and other policies concerned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a responsible country, China should take on heavy responsibility of energy conservation and emission reduction, and it is an inevitable choice for China to develop high-tech industries and improve the innovation efficiency of high-tech industries in order to alleviate the current environmental pressure. Therefore, this paper takes the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2005 to 2016 as the research sample, on the basis of using DEA Global-Malmquist index to measure the innovation efficiency of high-tech industries, it constructs three spatial weight matrices, by including spatial geography, spatial economic geography nesting and innovation, and then it uses Spatial Durbin Model to empirically analyze the effect of innovation efficiency of high-tech industry on CO2 emissions in China from spatial perspective. The results indicate: firstly, in China, CO2 emissions gradually increase from 2006 to 2012, however, some provinces have declined after 2012. And CO2 emissions present a descending trend from eastern coastal area to central and western region. Secondly, affected by "warning effect", CO2 emissions show a significant negative spatial spillover effect. Thirdly, the overall level of innovation efficiency of high-tech industries in China is not high, and its impact on CO2 emissions is not a simple linear relationship, but shows an "inverted N–shaped" curvilinear relation, and its decomposition index EC and TC also have similar characteristics. Obviously, the research in this paper provides a necessary theoretical support for China and some emerging developing countries to rational formulating and effective implementing the energy conservation and emission reduction policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In November 2015, China launched a pilot program for its Drug Marketing Authorization Holder (MAH) system, aiming to integrate production and research and development resources to spur drug innovation. While many scholars have examined the theoretical relationship between the MAH system and pharmaceutical manufacturing innovation, empirical studies have been scarce. Methods: This study uses inter-provincial panel data on China's pharmaceutical manufacturing industry from 2009 to 2019, along with synthetic control methods, to offer a robust analysis of the impact of the MAH paradigm on innovation quality in pilot provinces. We treat the 2015 MAH system implementation in ten provinces as a natural experiment and account for the mediating effects of R&D investments, allowing us to discern the underlying mechanisms. Results: Our findings demonstrate a significant positive effect of China's MAH system on innovation quality in the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry. Specifically, the system is most effective in Jiangsu, Guangdong, and Shandong provinces. We also identify R&D investments as playing a mediating role in facilitating the favorable impact of the MAH system on innovation quality. Conclusion: Our study highlights the crucial importance of the MAH system in promoting innovation quality in China's pharmaceutical manufacturing industry, providing vital empirical support for its adoption and further enhancement. This research also offers practical insights for policymakers and R&D decision-makers in the pharmaceutical sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Universities are important parts of innovation ecosystems, and university technology transfer (UTT), which aims for the sustainable commercialization of sci-tech achievements, is closely related to other actors in the ecosystem. Based on the panel data of 31 provinces in mainland China, this paper empirically analyzes the spatiotemporal distribution characteristics of UTT levels from 2011 to 2019 and estimates the influencing factors using the spatial Durbin model (SDM) with an economic spatial weighting matrix from the perspective of innovation ecosystems. The results are presented as follows: (1) Although the overall level of UTT in China is low, it shows an upward trend in most provinces. In addition, the interprovincial gap is obvious, forming a ladder distribution of UTT levels increasing from west to east. (2) There is a significant spatial autocorrelation between UTT levels in the provinces. (3) Industry, economy, and informatization play significant roles in promoting UTT, while financial institutes and openness have significant inhibitory effects. The economy has a significant spatial spillover effect on UTT, while government, industry and informatization have a significant inhibitory effect on UTT in neighboring regions. (4) The direct and indirect effects of influencing factors in the Eastern Region and other regions show significant spatial heterogeneity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International openness can affect regional innovation through more export opportunities, enhanced import competition and the spillover effects of foreign direct investment. Many studies have been conducted based on different countries for capturing the determinants of regional innovation, but very little literature is available with contradictory findings for the case of China. Based on 19 years' panel data of 31 Chinese provinces, this paper analyzes the impact of international openness on regional innovation measured by the number of patent grants. The positive effects of overall trade and a higher proportion of exports and imports to GDP are significant and robust across different model specifications, indicating that an increase in international openness can promote regional innovating activities in China. The causal relationship of all the variables depicted by path analysis matches the results of the system GMM model. Higher intellectual property protection provides each region with the opportunity to obtain economic benefits from innovation and then make a higher investment in R&D activities. Besides, the lag effect of regional innovation capability can also explain a large part of local innovating activities. In our subsample regressions, the positive effect of trade openness on innovation is majorly manifested in developed areas like eastern provinces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on the diffusion of innovation theory, we argue that the development of digital economy has a positive effect on urban economic resilience. Using panel data from 284 cities in China from 2011 to 2018, we empirically examine the relationship between digital economy and urban economic resilience. We find a positive and significant link between them, mediated by technological innovation and entrepreneurial vitality. Moreover, the heterogeneity analysis shows that the impact of digital economy is most pronounced in smaller cities, with its effects diminishing in larger cities and megacities. Our results underscore the importance and the direction of fostering digital economy development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Independent innovation emphasizes the self-reliance and control of all key links. Slack resources within an organization, especially for innovation, are the critical resources that are controllable for independent innovation. However, existing research still lacks evidence on the areas of slack innovation resources and independent innovation for deeper exploration. This research addresses this gap by providing an empirical analysis of the relationship between R&D human resource slack and firms' independent innovation. Based on the unbalanced panel data of China's listed manufacturing firms for eleven years, this research explores the effects of R&D human resource slack on firms' independent innovation, the mediating mechanism of technological diversification, and the boundary effects of top management team functional heterogeneity. The results reveal that R&D human resource slack positively affects firms' independent innovation; R&D human resource slack can promote firms' independent innovation through related technological diversification, while the mediating effect of unrelated technological diversification is not statistically significant; the top management team functional heterogeneity strengthens the positive impact of R&D human resource slack on firm independent innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to investigate whether differences in ESG ratings have an impact on corporate green innovation behavior. A high-order fixed effects model was established using panel data from Chinese companies from 2009 to 2022 to empirically test the impact of ESG rating divergence in the Chinese market on corporate green innovation behavior.The study demonstrates that ESG rating disparity raises the quantity but lowers the quality of businesses' green innovation efforts because of the short board effect. After a series of robustness tests, the results are still valid.The mechanism investigation reveals that both an external pressure channel and an internal strategy adjustment channel are responsible for the impact of ESG rating disparity on green innovation efforts. The asymmetry of corporate green innovation activities is exacerbated by managers' self-interest, whereas the asymmetry of green innovation is mitigated by the caliber of government. According to the heterogeneity analysis, the divergence of a business's ESG rating between large-scale, non-heavy polluting, and places with strong environmental regulations can effectively slow down the asymmetric behavior of enterprise innovation activities. Additional investigation reveals that the phenomenon of ESG rating divergence spreads across industries and geographical areas. The short board effect of ESG rating divergence can be effectively mitigated by improving the quality of enterprise information disclosure and speeding up the digital transformation of businesses. The research conclusion provides marginal contributions on how to improve China's ESG rating system and how enterprises can identify ESG rating differences and make scientific decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital transformation constitutes a crucial component of the digital economy and represents a microcosmic manifestation, playing a vital role in advancing enterprise sustainable development from the perspective of green innovation quality. Using the panel data of Chinese listed companies from 2011 to 2020, the study examines the impact of digital transformation on the quality of green innovation. The study finds that digital transformation significantly increases the green innovation quality of enterprises. Moreover, the positive effect of digital transformation on green innovation quality is strengthened by the executive with digital knowledge experience and in regions with high-level intellectual property protection. The study findings contribute to digitalization research and the literature on green innovation, and provide suggestions for managers and policymakers seeking to improve the quality of environmental sustainability through digital transformation in developing economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foreign Direct Investment is theoretically expected to facilitate the transfer of knowledge from the home country to the host country, however, the empirical evidence on the subject is mixed. Some studies have shown that, on one hand, as competition grows, the incentive to innovate reduces with the decrease in monopoly rents (Schumpeterian effect). On the other hand, market competition can also boost investments in R&D activities incentivized by incremental profits (Escape-Competition effect). Therefore, this study aims to explore which of these two effects dominates in the selected group of countries. This study also identifies the moderators of the relationship between FDI stock and domestic innovation. It examines the role of absorptive capacity, quality of regulations, and property rights protection in the innovative activities of the host countries. Generalized Method of Moments is used to estimate the parameters of the multivariate regression equation. The analysis is based on panel data consisting of 49 countries over 14 years. The results show that FDI has a negative relationship with domestic innovation, indicating the presence of the Schumpeterian effect. The extensions of the main models show that FDI positively affects domestic innovation in countries with higher absorptive capacity, the superior quality of regulation, and stronger protection of property rights. This study shows that the positive relationship between FDI and domestic innovation is conditional on the ability to absorb knowledge and quality of governance in the recipient countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of the digital economy, industrial structure upgrading plays an important role in realizing high-quality development. Exploiting the quasi-natural experimental setting provided by the Big Data Comprehensive Pilot Zone (BDCPZ) policy in China in 2016, this study evaluates the impacts of the BDCPZ policies on regional industrial structure upgrading using a combination of propensity score matching and difference-in-differences (PSM-DID) with panel data of 30 regions for the period 2008–2021. The results are as follows: (1) BDCPZ policies significantly promote regional industrial structure upgrading. This finding holds after conducting the placebo test and replacing explained variables. (2) BDCPZ policies enhance upgrading through technological innovation and financial deepening. (3) Heterogeneity analysis shows that the promotional effect of BDCPZ policies on industrial structure upgrading is more obvious in economically developed regions, megacities, and east-central regions; overall, regions with high industrialization benefit more. These findings have important implications: First, they provide new empirical evidence from the perspective of policy evaluation on how the digital economy affects industrial structure upgrading. Second, this study sheds light on the mechanism underlying this relationship, helping us understand how the digital economy can further affect the development of the industrial structure. Third, the policy effect is heterogenous, providing a scientific basis for the government to formulate differentiated implementation policies for different regions. This can help local industrial transformation and upgrading, and economic development in these regions through the implementation of big data and digital technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is important for China to break the "low-end lock" of the manufacturing value chain worldwide by revealing how digital trade promotes and reallocates the export technology complexity of the manufacturing industry. Panel data for 30 provinces in China from 2011 to 2020 were employed to measure the digital trade development and export technology complexity of the manufacturing industry. Benchmark regression, intermediary effect regression, panel threshold and other models were used to test the promotion and reallocation of digital trade on the export technology complexity of the manufacturing industry. The findings are as follows: (1) Digital trade promotes the export technology complexity of the manufacturing industry, with significant regional heterogeneity (eastern, central and western regions), and the most obvious promotion in technology-intensive manufacturing. (2) Technological innovation and human capital play a reallocation role in the process of digital trade, affecting the technological complexity of manufacturing exports, with mediating effects of 14.19% and 8.61%, respectively. (3) Digital trade promotes and reallocates the export technology complexity of the manufacturing industry through industrial structure upgrading, and a nonlinear relationship was found. These results provide empirical support and a decision-making basis for digital trade in promoting the export technology complexity of the manufacturing industry. The development of digital trade should be encouraged; the differential development of digital trade in the eastern, central, and western regions should be boosted; importance should be attached to the intermediary incentive role of technological innovation and human capital; and the upgrading of the industrial structure should be promoted scientifically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovation efficiency is an important manifestation of regional innovation capacity, and how to improve regional innovation efficiency is crucial to regional development. This study empirically explores the impact of industrial intelligence on regional innovation efficiency and the possible influence of approaches and mechanisms. The empirical results revealed the following. First, the development level of industrial intelligence can positively affect regional innovation efficiency, while beyond a certain level, its role in promoting regional innovation efficiency will weaken, exhibiting an inverted U-shaped effect. Second, compared with the application research by enterprises, industrial intelligence plays a stronger role in promoting the innovation efficiency of basic research by scientific research institutes. Third, human capital situation, financial development level, and industrial structure upgrading are three significant channels for industrial intelligence to promote regional innovation efficiency. Therefore, accelerating the development of industrial intelligence, formulating individualized policies for different innovative entities, and rationally allocating resources related to the development of industrial intelligence are needed to be taken to improve regional innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The panel data of 50 new energy vehicle enterprises in Shanghai and Shenzhen A-shares from 2012 to 2021 are selected to empirically analyze the impact of government subsidies on the innovation of new energy vehicle enterprises and to further discuss the differences between such an impact in different forms and regions. The study finds that, first, government subsidies have a certain promotion effect on the innovation of new energy vehicle enterprises, and an inverted U-shaped relationship exists thereof. Second, at the enterprise level, government subsidies have a significant effect on the innovation of non-state enterprises, downstream vehicle enterprises, and enterprises with lower establishment years, and the inverted-U trend is evident. Third, at the regional level, government subsidies have a more significant effect on the innovation of enterprises in non-eastern regions and low-environmental regulation regions, and the inverted-U-shaped relationship trend is more apparent. The study establishes the nonlinear relationship between government subsidies and the innovation of new energy vehicle enterprises through empirical research, which expands the theory of enterprise innovation and has a certain guiding significance for improving the innovation capability of new energy vehicle enterprises in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While corporate charitable giving(CG) can help firms obtain external innovation resource support, it can also crowd out internal innovation resources. The purpose of this study is to clarify the mechanism of CG and government green subsidies(GS) on green innovation(GI). In this regard, we integrated signaling theory and principal-agent theory to provide a new theoretical perspective for simultaneously focus on the impact of external resource acquisition and internal resource allocation on GI. We conducted a threshold regression analysis on the balanced panel data of 863 listed companies of China from 2016 to 2019 to clarify the input boundary between the promoting and inhibiting effects of corporate CG on corporate GI. And we further explored the relationship between GS and GI under the effect of different CG thresholds. Our findings indicate that there is an inverted U-shaped threshold effect of CG on GI. The impact of GS on GI shows a decreasing marginal benefit as the intensity of CG increases. Based on the findings, we propose corresponding countermeasures for the management of enterprises and the government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the influence of the power of family business successors on firm innovation under the theory of social embeddedness. Based on the 2000–2019 unbalanced panel data of listed Chinese family enterprises, this study empirically examines the differences in the influence of the implicit and explicit power of successors on incremental and radical innovation respectively. Our findings show that explicit power has a more positive impact on incremental innovation, while implicit power is more conducive to promoting radical innovation. In addition, the study finds that the reason why the explicit power of succession does not have a significant impact on radical innovation, that is, the reason why board dissent is not related to radical innovation, is that some of the major innovation decisions in the enterprise are not all made at formal meetings. The research conclusions not only extend the theoretical application of social embeddedness in family enterprises, but also provide certain practical guidance for promoting enterprise innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the effect of the digital economy in promoting high-quality economic development is increasing day by day, research analysing this mechanism from the spatial perspective is very scarce. This study measures the level of the digital economy and high-quality economic development based on the panel data of 31 provinces in China from 2013 to 2020. On this basis, the direct, spillover, and mediating effects of the digital economy and scientific and technological innovation on high-quality economic development are further analysed through the spatial Durbin model and mediating effect model. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) the digital economy, scientific and technological innovation, and high-quality economic development all show significant spatial correlation; (2) the digital economy can directly drive high-quality economic development, the spillover effect of which is obvious; and (3) the mechanism analysis based on the spatial perspective shows that the mediating effect of scientific and technological innovation is significant. The conclusions still hold after robustness tests based on the use of lagged variables, replacement of the weight matrices, and changing of the measurement methods. This study provides theoretical support and empirical evidence for promoting the digital economy and high-quality economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enterprise group is an important promoter to break the segmentation and achieve economies of scale. Technological innovation within the group is the key to improving market competitiveness, which has attracted common attention from academia and practitioners, but the decision-making mechanism of technology innovation in subsidiary is still needed. Based on the background of Chinese enterprises, through empirical analysis of panel data of 773 listed manufacturing companies for 5 consecutive years, we found: Parent-subsidiary executives' synergistic allocation has a positive impact on the technological innovation of subsidiary; Parent-subsidiary executives' synergistic allocation has a positive impact on the organizational slack of the subsidiary; The positive effect of executives' synergistic allocation in parent-subsidiary corporations on the technological innovation of the subsidiary is realized by increasing organizational slack; Compared with private enterprise group, the positive influence of parent-subsidiary executives' synergistic allocation on the technological innovation of subsidiary in state-owned enterprise groups is weaker; The longer the executive tenure is, the weaker the positive impact of organizational slack on technological innovation of subsidiary will be. On the one hand, this study enriches the theoretical research of technological innovation decision-making motivation; on the other hand, it provides empirical thinking for the improvement of parent-subsidiary executive collaborative governance mechanism and the improvement of governance efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovation is intrinsically dependent on the construction of local infrastructure. Using panel data on 285 cities in China, we empirically examined the impact of high-speed rails on urban innovation and the mechanism underlying this effect. We found that high-speed rails significantly increase urban innovation. In our analysis, high-speed rails were found to increase the agglomeration of innovation factors, including population and investment, which in turn increase urban technological innovation. The agglomeration of investment factors brought about by high-speed rails is the main source of the improvement in urban innovation. Through the use of a spatial panel model, we found that high-speed rails promote knowledge dissemination and technology spillovers among the cities along high-speed railways, thus improving their innovation levels. However, the existing effects of high-speed rails on innovation exhibit spatial heterogeneity. We confirmed the effect of high-speed rails on innovation and explored the mechanism underlying this effect by considering the effects of factor agglomeration and knowledge spillovers. Our conclusions can be used as a resource by policymakers to stimulate knowledge and technology diffusion, which in turn cultivates and stimulates urban innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]