Science and city: Exploring science's contribution to China's urban technological innovation

IF 5.2 1区经济学 Q1 ECONOMICS

中国经济评论 Pub Date : 2025-06-16 DOI:10.1016/j.chieco.2025.102461

Xin Dai , Jie Tang , Deyun Yin

{"title":"Science and city: Exploring science's contribution to China's urban technological innovation","authors":"Xin Dai , Jie Tang , Deyun Yin","doi":"10.1016/j.chieco.2025.102461","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Although science plays an ever more vital role in the modern knowledge economy, its influence over regional innovation remains highly uneven across space. Using panel data of 269 Chinese cities from 2000 to 2017, this paper investigates the spatial dynamics between local scientific knowledge and regional technological innovation. Our results reveal that: (1) local scientific knowledge, including applied science and basic science, significantly enhances regional innovation output, with persistent effects diminishing over time. (2) The efficiency of scientific knowledge's transformation varies across city scales: medium and mega cities convert science into innovation more efficiently, while only super cities can turn basic science into highly original breakthrough inventions. (3) Within metropolitan regions, science-intensive cities foster outward knowledge spillover beyond their administrative boundaries thus provide knowledge sources for innovation in much wider areas, whereas industry-specialized cities’ innovation benefits from both local and external scientific inputs. (4) Mechanism analysis highlights that regional absorptive capacity and university-industry collaboration are key channels, while interactions with local innovation ecosystems and supporting environments further facilitate such transformation process. This paper offers rich policy implications for fostering science-led regional development through tailored place-based urban innovation strategies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48285,"journal":{"name":"中国经济评论","volume":"93 ","pages":"Article 102461"},"PeriodicalIF":5.2000,"publicationDate":"2025-06-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"中国经济评论","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1043951X25001191","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ECONOMICS","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Although science plays an ever more vital role in the modern knowledge economy, its influence over regional innovation remains highly uneven across space. Using panel data of 269 Chinese cities from 2000 to 2017, this paper investigates the spatial dynamics between local scientific knowledge and regional technological innovation. Our results reveal that: (1) local scientific knowledge, including applied science and basic science, significantly enhances regional innovation output, with persistent effects diminishing over time. (2) The efficiency of scientific knowledge's transformation varies across city scales: medium and mega cities convert science into innovation more efficiently, while only super cities can turn basic science into highly original breakthrough inventions. (3) Within metropolitan regions, science-intensive cities foster outward knowledge spillover beyond their administrative boundaries thus provide knowledge sources for innovation in much wider areas, whereas industry-specialized cities’ innovation benefits from both local and external scientific inputs. (4) Mechanism analysis highlights that regional absorptive capacity and university-industry collaboration are key channels, while interactions with local innovation ecosystems and supporting environments further facilitate such transformation process. This paper offers rich policy implications for fostering science-led regional development through tailored place-based urban innovation strategies.

查看原文本刊更多论文

科学与城市：探索科学对中国城市科技创新的贡献

尽管科学在现代知识经济中发挥着越来越重要的作用，但它对区域创新的影响在空间上仍然极不平衡。利用2000 - 2017年269个城市的面板数据，研究了地方科学知识与区域技术创新的空间动态关系。研究结果表明：(1)地方科学知识（包括应用科学和基础科学）显著提高了区域创新产出，但随着时间的推移，持续效应逐渐减弱。(2)科学知识转化效率在城市尺度上存在差异，大中城市将科学转化为创新的效率更高，而只有超级城市才能将基础科学转化为高度原创性的突破性发明。(3)在都市圈内，科学密集型城市促进了知识外溢，从而为更大范围内的创新提供了知识来源，而产业专业化城市的创新则同时受益于本地和外部的科学投入。(4)机制分析表明，区域吸收能力和校企合作是关键渠道，而与地方创新生态系统和支持环境的互动进一步促进了这一转化过程。本文为通过有针对性的基于地方的城市创新战略促进科学主导的区域发展提供了丰富的政策启示。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

中国经济评论 ECONOMICS-

CiteScore

10.60

自引率

4.40%

发文量

380

期刊介绍： The China Economic Review publishes original works of scholarship which add to the knowledge of the economy of China and to economies as a discipline. We seek, in particular, papers dealing with policy, performance and institutional change. Empirical papers normally use a formal model, a data set, and standard statistical techniques. Submissions are subjected to double-blind peer review.