Digital Economy and Urban Innovation Quality: Unlocking the Power of Collaborative Innovation

ABSTRACTThis paper takes 277 Chinese cities data from 2011 to 2020 and measures the quality of green innovation and efficiency of green innovation based on super‐efficiency SBM model. This paper uses the fixed effect model to analyse the digital economy on the influence of the quality and efficiency of urban green innovation, and uses the threshold effect model to test the threshold effect gathered in this effect. This paper found that the digital economy can promote urban green innovation quality and efficiency. The conclusion is still valid after robustness tests, such as recalculating the level of the digital economy and adjusting the sample time interval. Heterogeneity test shows that digital economy has a more obvious effect on improving the quality of green innovation in central and western cities, non‐resource cities, cities with high‐level innovation and cities with low‐level enterprise density, while it has a more obvious effect on improving the efficiency of green innovation in eastern cities, non‐resource cities, cities with high‐level innovation and cities with high‐level enterprise density. Furthermore, digital economy can enhance the quality and efficiency of urban green innovation by increasing the degree of urban economic agglomeration, talent agglomeration, industrial agglomeration and financial agglomeration. Additionally, the quality of green innovation, the improvement effect of the digital economy is stronger when the degree of economic agglomeration exceeds the threshold. Finally, when the degree of economic and financial agglomeration exceeds the threshold, the improvement of green innovation efficiency caused by the digital economy is stronger. Therefore, the government should improve the infrastructure of the digital economy, pay attention to the role of agglomeration, develop the digital economy according to local conditions and promote urban green innovation.

The digital economy has great potential to sustain China’s high‐quality economic growth and substantially strengthen urban innovation capacity. This paper developed a digital economy index using city‐level data from China and measured the level of urban innovation with patents per capita. We used a spatial econometric model to explore the spatial implications of the digital economy on urban innovation, probed into the mechanism by which the digital economy affects urban innovation, and further measured the spatial spillover distance and threshold of the digital economy on urban innovation. The findings suggest that China’s digital economy and urban innovation are characterized by spatial aggregation, and the spatial distribution varies from region to region. The digital economy, with strong spatial spillover effects on the innovation capacity of cities in China, may not only enhance the innovation capacity of one city but also drive a simultaneous growth of the innovation capacity in peripheral cities. The analysis of mechanisms indicates that the digital economy enhances local innovation capacity directly through promoting human resources and increasing science and technology spending and drives the improvement of the innovation capacity in peripheral cities through the spatial spillover of human resources and science and technology spending. The effects of the latter one outweigh those of the former one. The analysis of heterogeneity shows that the central, western, and northern regions, where the digital economy is relatively less developed, have the latecomer advantage, and the digital economy has more prominent effects on innovation capacity. Calculating the spillover distance and threshold demonstrates that the digital economy influences urban innovation within a spatial spillover range and threshold of approximately 500 kilometers. Within 500 kilometers, the positive spatial spillover effects prevail, while beyond 500 kilometers, the negative siphon effect prevails. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the differences in the impact and role of the digital economy on urban innovation from a spatial perspective.

China’s high-tech industrial development zones (HIDZs) is a key “place-based” policy targeting national innovation-driven development. Despite the extensive research on HIDZs, it remains unclear whether and to what extent the policy has fostered cities’ innovation output and quality. Basing our research on panel data of Chinese cities from 2001 to 2019, we employed the PSM-DID model to examine the impact of HIDZs policy on their host cities’ innovation output and quality. The empirical results show that: (1) In general, the establishment of HIDZs has a more significant positive effect on fostering urban innovation output compared to its role in promoting urban innovation quality. However, (2) the effect on urban innovation output and quality varies across different cities. For cities with more advantageous locations and policies, HIDZ policy plays a more instrumental role in promoting the quality of urban innovation, while the establishment of HIDZs in other cities is more conducive to increasing the output of urban innovation. Ultimately, we argue that authorities must recognize the importance of integrated development of HIDZs and their host cities and incorporating HIDZs’ impact on the host cities into the HIDZ evaluation. It is necessary to understand that HIDZs have multiple development modes due to their specific local conditions. Hence, differentiated guidance must be carried out rather than directly replicating the experience from developed regions.

The strategic choice of how to gain a new competitive advantage internationally again under the pattern of domestic and international mutual promotion and development is particularly important. Based on the empirical research method, this paper uses both panel data model and BVAR model to analyze the tripartite interaction between digital economy, innovation quality and trade development. A study with innovation quality, digital economy and trade development real data, collected from the China Statistical Yearbook, National Bureau of Statistics, is conducted to illustrate the proposed interaction mechanism. The results show that a good market environment has a certain promotion effect on improvement of digital economy and innovation quality, and there is a certain positive interaction between digital economy and innovation quality.

The proposal of the "dual carbon" targets has provided direction for promoting China's economic green transformation and green innovation. As enterprises are important entities driving technological innovation in China, enhancing their green innovation capabilities holds significant practical significance for reducing carbon emissions. While the flourishing development of the digital economy currently provides new avenues and impetus for enterprise green innovation, research on the micro-level effects of green innovation driven by digital economy is still lacking. Therefore, based on data from Chinese cities spanning 2010 to 2021 and micro-level data of listed enterprises, this paper employs fixed effect model and intermediary effect model to empirically test the effect and mechanism of urban digital economy development on the quality and quantity of enterprise green innovation. Additionally, it investigates the carbon emission reduction effect resulting from digital economy development. The findings are as follows: (1) The development of digital economy exhibits a significant green innovation effect, effectively enhancing both the "quality and quantity" of enterprise green innovation. Particularly noteworthy is its impact on the quality of green innovation in enterprises, a result corroborated by several robustness tests. (2) Promoting regional knowledge spillover and alleviating enterprise financing constraints emerge as mechanisms through which the digital economy enhances the "quality and quantity" of enterprise green innovation. (3) Heterogeneity testing reveals that the digital economy exerts a greater green innovation effect on enterprises located in regions characterized by higher environmental regulations, high-tech industries, and state-owned enterprises. (4) Further analysis demonstrates that the digital economy effectively reduces enterprises carbon emissions and enhances their carbon performance by driving green innovation, thus providing endogenous impetus for achieving the "dual carbon" goals. By examining the effects and mechanisms of green innovation driven by digital economy from the perspectives of promoting knowledge spillover and alleviating financing constraints, this study enriches theoretical research on the relationship between the digital economy and green innovation at the enterprise micro-level. It offers new insights for governments in formulating green innovation policies and serves as a reference for green innovation decision-making in other developing countries.

With the sustained advancement of China's digital economy and real economy, their integration has emerged as a prominent area of academic inquiry. This study employs the entropy weight method to assess the developmental levels of China's digital economy and real economy, evaluating their integrated development status. Subsequently, panel regression analysis is conducted to elucidate the direction and magnitude of factors influencing this integration. Furthermore, a threshold model is constructed to investigate the nonlinear threshold effects of these determinants. The empirical findings yield several key insights. First, from 2013 to 2022, China witnessed a consistent upward trajectory in the integration of its digital and real economies, albeit with pronounced regional disparities. Second, the developmental levels of both the digital economy and the real economy exhibit statistically significant positive effects on integration, a result robust across all four regions. Third, threshold regression analysis reveals the presence of nonlinear effects when the following variables serve as threshold parameters, digital economy development level, real economy development level, regional economic development, demographic structure, government support, foreign investment, and environmental conditions. Notably, as these threshold variables optimize, both sectors demonstrate promotional effects on integrationhowever, the marginal contribution of the digital economy exhibits diminishing returns, whereas that of the real economy displays increasing returns. Based on these findings, this study proposes the following policy recommendations: (1) prioritize coordinated development between the digital and real economies, (2) align talent cultivation strategies with contemporary developmental paradigms, (3) strengthen governmental support for economic transformation, and (4) incorporate environmental sustainability into digital economy development initiatives.

BackgroundAs China's "Internet + Health" initiative advances, the digital economy significantly influences the quality of medical and health services. However, there is a research gap concerning the digital economy's specific impacts, mechanisms, and marginal effects on these services. This gap impedes a comprehensive understanding of the digital economy's potential in healthcare.AimsThis study aims to clarify the digital economy's impact mechanisms on medical and health services levels, offering a scientific foundation for more targeted and effective policy formulation, thereby fostering sustainable digital development in healthcare.MethodsUtilizing panel data from China's 31 provinces (2011–2020), this paper employs the Spatial Durbin Model to analyze the spatial and marginal effects of the digital economy on healthcare service levels. To ensure analysis accuracy and robustness, the study refines the spatial weight matrix and addresses model endogeneity using the Generalized Spatial Two-Stage Least Squares method. Additionally, it examines regional disparities in the digital economy's impact through SDM and explores intermediary mechanisms and threshold effects using a mediation effect model and a panel threshold model.ResultsFindings indicate that the digital economy positively affects medical and health services in both local and neighboring regions, with variations across areas. The eastern region particularly benefits from the digital economy's enhancement of service levels, while the central and western regions see less impact. The digital economy enhances services by improving medical resource levels and promoting their coordinated development. However, this positive effect is moderated by the digital economy's and the region's economic development levels, with more pronounced impacts in regions with higher digital and economic development.ConclusionsThe digital economy plays a crucial role in improving medical and health services, and its full potential is beneficial for the industry's advancement and sustainability. Nonetheless, addressing the uneven digital economy development across regions is essential to ensure equitable benefits for all areas.

Enhancing the quality of urban innovation is a powerful strategy for advancing urban sustainability. A strong public innovation policy is a crucial building block for advancing urban innovation quality. This study identifies innovative procurement instances from over 640,000 public procurement contract data through textual analysis to investigate how urban innovation quality could benefit from demand-based policy instruments. The study’s findings indicate the following: (1) It provides evidence that the adoption of public innovation procurement has a significant impact on urban innovation quality, suggesting an inverse U-shaped relationship between the two. (2) Heterogeneity analysis reveals public innovation procurement stimulates urban innovation quality more remarkably in cities with provincial status and provincial capitals, as well as in eastern cities. (3) We discovered that it is not possible to increase the quality of urban innovation in the city when human capital in the city is performing poorly and when there is also a lack of external technology and entrepreneurial activity. Finally, this paper argues that our findings also provide important insights for the development of proactive innovation policy instruments, the construction of innovative cities, and the realization of sustainable development in countries around the world, especially in developing countries.

Digital economy and fiscal decentralization: Drivers of green innovation in China

Digital infrastructure construction is advancing rapidly around the world and has become an important force in promoting urban innovation and economic development. Digital infrastructure includes technologies such as 5G networks, data centers, the Internet of Things, and cloud computing, which provide cities with efficient information transmission and processing capabilities. Modern cities are gradually relying on these technologies to enhance their innovation capabilities and competitiveness. Digital infrastructure is not only a technical support for urban development, but also a key factor in improving the quality of urban innovation. my country is in a stage of rapid urbanization and digitalization. With the in-depth advancement of new infrastructure construction, many cities have made significant progress in the field of digital infrastructure. However, there are still large differences in the level of digital infrastructure construction and application among different cities, which directly affects the innovation quality and overall development of cities. Cities such as Shenzhen and Hangzhou have shown strong innovation capabilities and economic vitality through the vigorous development of digital infrastructure, becoming models of the digital economy. Studying the impact of digital infrastructure construction on urban innovation quality is not only of great theoretical significance, but also of practical application value. From a theoretical perspective, exploring how digital infrastructure affects urban innovation quality through information circulation, knowledge sharing, enterprise R&D support, and optimization of the innovation ecosystem will help enrich and deepen the theoretical system in the field of digital economy and innovation management. From a practical perspective, the research results can provide a scientific basis for policymakers, and at the same time provide practical guidance for urban planners and managers, promoting the sustainable development of cities and improving their innovation capabilities.

Under the "Digital China" strategy and "Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality" goal, it is significant to explore the carbon reduction effect from the digital economy development in a multi-dimensional way. Based on the panel data of 13 cities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region from 2011 to 2019, this study uses mechanism test model, threshold effect model, and spatial Durbin model which empirically test the influence mechanism and spatial spillover effect of digital economy development on regional CEI. The research found that (1) the digital economy development in the BTH region can reduce regional CEI, and it passes the endogenous test; (2) the digital economy indexes of 13 cities in the BTH region have significantly increased with time evolution, but there is obvious spatial unevenness; the CEI of each city except Tianjin decreases significantly with time evolution, and Tianjin shows a trend of decreasing and then increasing; (3) digital economy has a positive spatial correlation, showing the characteristics of "H-H" and "L-L" clustering. Furthermore, the digital economy has a spatial spillover effect on the CEI of neighboring cities; (4) the digital economy development can promote the industrial structure rationalization and upgrade, improves the urban green innovation quantity and quality, then reduces the regional CEI through them; and (5) the impact strength of digital economy on CEI varies at different threshold intervals of the mechanism variable.

Digital economy is a key breakthrough in the new round of the industrial revolution, and technological innovation is the key to economic growth and wealth creation by enterprises. The influence of the digital economy on the innovation of manufacturing enterprises is directly related to solving the problem of inadequate development. Therefore, it is of great theoretical value and practical significance to study the influence of the digital economy on enterprise technological innovation. Taking Chinese manufacturing companies during 2016–2020 as a sample, this paper measured the technological innovation level of enterprises by the quantity and quality of innovation output of manufacturing enterprises and measured the development degree of the digital economy by the four dimensions of digital economy infrastructure, digital industrialization, industrial digitalization, and digital governance. The influence of the digital economy on enterprise technological innovation was researched through the Moran index and panel regression model. Moran’s indexes were all greater than 0, and the data were concentrated in the first and third quadrants of the scatter chart, and the value dropped from 0.186 to 0.152, indicating that provincial digital economic development presents a phenomenon of aggregation in spatial distribution, which gradually decreases along the eastern coast to the western region and gradually moves from aggregation to dispersion. The regression coefficients are significant at least at the level of 10%, indicating that the digital economy can effectively promote the output quantity and quality of technological innovation in manufacturing enterprises. The digital economy has a double-promotion effect on technological innovation. In promoting the technological innovation of manufacturing enterprises, infrastructure, digital industrialization, and industrial digitization play a dual and positive role as well as digital governance. In addition, the digital economy and its four dimensions have a first-order and second-order time-lag effect, which has a double-promotion effect on enterprises’ technological innovation. In general, the digital economy can promote enterprise technological innovation.

ADJUSTMENT OF PROFESSIONAL TALENTS' INNOVATIVE PSYCHOLOGICAL QUALITY AND EMOTIONAL STABILITY UNDER OBE MODE

The digital economy is widely recognized as a key driver of urban innovation, transforming production modes and creating new innovation elements. Therefore, understanding how the digital economy affects urban innovation and its underlying mechanisms is essential. Using data from 284 Chinese cities (2011 to 2022), this study examines the digital economy’s impact on urban innovation and identifies its mechanisms. Regression analysis reveals that the digital economy significantly enhances urban innovation by boosting entrepreneurship, attracting innovative talent, and promoting FinTech development. The results remain robust after multiple robustness tests and endogeneity analysis. Spatial heterogeneity analysis reveals stronger innovation-driven effects in central and eastern cities, those with better institutional environments, and higher intellectual property protection levels. To enhance urban innovation capacity, the government should strengthen digital infrastructure, improve institutional frameworks and legal systems, implement tailored regional innovation policies, promote cross-regional cooperation, and bridge the digital divide for sustainable growth.

The digital economy serves as a crucial driver of global economic growth and intercity connectivity. This study systematically examines the innovation effects of digital economic development through empirical analysis of panel data from 281 Chinese prefecture-level cities spanning 2011 to 2019, employing the spatial Durbin, mediation effect, and threshold regression models. The findings are as follows: (1) the digital economy significantly enhances urban innovation capabilities, with the magnitude of this effect exhibiting pronounced spatial heterogeneity-economically developed regions and large cities reap substantially greater innovation dividends compared to less developed areas; (2) spatial spillover effects display regional divergence: neighboring cities in eastern China benefit from statistically significant positive innovation spillovers, whereas central and western regions exhibit nonsignificant negative spatial correlations; (3) increased trade openness functions as a critical transmission channel for the digital economy to boost urban innovation, though this mediating mechanism operates exclusively in eastern regions and large cities, remaining inactive elsewhere; (4) the impact of digital economy development on urban innovation exhibits a single threshold effect. Trade openness moderates the impact of digital economy development on urban innovation, and this moderation follows an inverted U-shaped pattern.