Abstract
China’s High-tech Industrial Development Zones (HTZ) are industrial agglomeration areas established by the local government to foster economic innovation. As springboards for cities to implement innovation-driven development strategies, HTZs have significant spillover and driving effects on urban ecological innovation. Based on panel data taken from 215 cities between 2003 and 2016, this paper empirically analyzes the impact of HTZ construction and its mechanisms as they pertain to urban ecological innovation. This analysis is framed by the double difference model and the intermediary effect model. It found that HTZ construction can effectively enhance urban ecological innovation, and formidably promote ecological innovation in central and eastern cities, as well as cities with superior scientific and educational resources. The intermediary mechanism analysis revealed that HTZs result in a policy depression effect, which may promote the agglomeration of urban innovation factors (including high-quality talents and investment), thereby bolstering urban ecological innovation. Moreover, HTZs’ investment agglomeration effect is primarily responsible for driving urban ecological innovation. Indeed, the HTZ construction may not only promote the local ecological innovation, but also have a significant spillover effect on the ecological innovation activities of other cities in the province.
Highlights
China is the most populous country in the world: facing the tremendous pressures of economic growth while bearing the heavy burden of the ecological environment
Regression (1) only employs High-tech Industrial Development Zones (HTZ) as the explanatory variable, and its coefficient is significantly positive at the level of 1%: indicating that urban ecological innovation has improved post-HTZ construction
The time trend effect, in which the urban ecological innovation level continues to improve as time passes
Summary
China is the most populous country in the world: facing the tremendous pressures of economic growth while bearing the heavy burden of the ecological environment. For governments to manage the ecological environment, it is necessary to accelerate the promotion of scientific and technological innovation [1,2] The former bears the consequences of the latter. Automobiles and other modern means of transportation are more efficient than their archaic predecessors, but they have generated noise, air, and other forms of pollution. For this reason, Brawn and Wield (1994) presented the concept of green technology, which consistently advocates technological advancement activities with both ecological and economic benefits [3]. The tenets of ecological advancement are low pollution, sustainability, and high efficiency—which may promote economic growth while ensuring ecological benefit. This approach is significant in its ability to promote the development of China’s economy in ways that are both refined and sustainable [5]
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