Impact mechanisms and spatial and temporal evolution of digital economy and green innovation: A perspective based on regional collaboration within urban agglomerations.

The prime objective of this study is to analyze the spatio-temporal evolution of the relationship between digital economy and green innovation in China. Based on the panel data of 26 cities in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) urban agglomeration from 2012 to 2019, this paper measures the digital economy and green innovation in each city of the YRD urban agglomeration using the entropy weight model and the projection tracking model, analyzes the characteristics of the spatio-temporal evolution, and explores the impact of the digital economy on green innovation and the spatial spillover effect. The results show that in the spatial dimension, there is a significant spatial correlation between digital economy and green innovation in each city, and the regional heterogeneity of digital economy is higher than that of the west in the east, and the regional heterogeneity of green innovation is high and high agglomeration in the east of the city cluster, and high and low agglomeration in the west of the city cluster; there is a trend of incremental increase of the level of digital economy and green innovation in the temporal dimension, and the regional imbalance of the development of green innovation among cities is decreasing. The regional imbalance in the development of green innovation between cities is narrowing, and it tends to be more towards the synergistic development of a unified big market; the spatial measurement model shows that the digital economy not only has a significant impact on the level of green innovation in its own region, but also has a positive spatial spillover effect on the neighboring regions. The research in this paper helps to clarify the connection between digital economy and green innovation among regions, and provides decision-making reference for building a modernized innovation system and efficiently promoting the construction of beautiful China in the new period. • Spatial and Temporal Evolution of Digital Economy and Green Innovation. • 26 cities in the Yangtze River Delta city cluster from 2012 to 2020. • Entropy power model and projection tracing models are used. • The influence of the digital economy on green innovation in Chinese cities is very significant. • Sustainability based implications are discussed and suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]