Effect of Collaborative Innovation on High-Quality Economic Development in Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei Urban Agglomeration—An Empirical Analysis Based on the Spatial Durbin Model

Abstract

High-quality economic development is an innovation-driven economy, and collaborative innovation is key to maximizing its effects. In terms of the influence of cooperative innovation of urban agglomerations on high-quality economic development, urban agglomerations are of considerable relevance to the coordinated development of China’s regional economy. This research established an evaluation system of high-quality economic development indicators for the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei urban agglomeration based on panel data of 13 cities from 2003 to 2020, and then estimated the level of high-quality development of each city’s economy. The spatial Durbin model was used in this article to examine the effects of collaborative innovation on the high-quality development of the economy. The findings indicated that, although high-quality economic development was increasing across the board in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei urban agglomeration, it varied greatly between the individual cities. Beijing and Tianjin had much higher levels of high-quality economic development than the other cities in Hebei, and there was some variation within the Hebei cities as well. The high-quality economic development of the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei urban agglomeration exhibited no spatial correlation characteristics under the weight of geographical distance. However, there was an aggregation effect on the differential relationship of economic development, which was also significant under the dual influence of economic geography. The collaborative innovation of Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei urban agglomeration could promote the high-quality economic development of both the inner and surrounding cities, and could also improve the high-quality economy development level of the overall urban agglomeration.