Abstract
Technology transfer has become a vital pipeline for acquiring external knowledge. The purpose of this paper is to portray the spatial dynamics of intercity technology transfer networks in China’s three urban agglomerations based on patent right transaction data from 2008 to 2015. The integration of social networks and spatial visualization is used to explore spatial networks and influencing variables of the networks. The results demonstrate that Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen are emerging as hubs in the three urban agglomerations. The spatial distributions of degree and weighted degree are significantly heterogeneous and hierarchical. The larger cities play the role of a knowledge and technology incubator, highly related to their economic scale, research and development (R&D) input, and innovation output. The evolution of intercity technology linkages is driven by the networking mechanisms of preferential attachment, hierarchical and contagious diffusion, path dependence, and path breaking. Moreover, we found that the geographical proximity and technology gaps are determinants of the strength of intercity technology linkages. As a result, it has been discovered that the network in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei agglomeration is organized in a tree network, while the Yangtze River Delta features a polycentric network and the Pearl River Delta has multi-star characteristics.
Highlights
Knowledge flow and transfer have become the focus of innovation geography and urban studies in the globalized knowledge economy [1,2,3]
Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou all featured high degree centrality. These cities constituted the core of intercity technology transfer networks
We explored intercity technology transfer networks from a patent transaction perspective within three major urban agglomerations in China using intercity patent right transaction data
Summary
Knowledge flow and transfer have become the focus of innovation geography and urban studies in the globalized knowledge economy [1,2,3]. There has been a notable increment in the number of technology transactions among different entities. This indicates that technology transfer has become an important means for any country, region, or city to acquire external technical knowledge [6]. Regional performance is related to both network connectivity and position in addition to internal innovation capacity [8]. Little attention has been paid to the spatial dynamic of innovation networks based on the perspective of technology transfer. In this paper, we explore a pilot study of dynamic urban technology transfer networks from a patent right transaction perspective
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