The Impact of Science and Technology Finance on Regional Collaborative Innovation: The Threshold Effect of Absorptive Capacity

Abstract

The collaborative innovation of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region is faced with prominent problems such as the large gap in innovation resources and capability. In addition, science and technology (S&T) finance provides the approach to promote the flow of regional capital, technology and talents, which can facilitate the coordinated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. Therefore, this study takes the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region as an example to explore the mechanism of different S&T finance on regional S&T collaborative innovation. Based on the provincial panel data of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region from 2009 to 2020, this paper constructs a dynamic panel threshold model with different regional absorptive capacities (technology level and economic base) as threshold variables to analyze the impact of public and market S&T finance on regional collaborative innovation. The main findings of this paper are as follows: first, the overall level of regional collaborative innovation in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei is low, and public and market S&T finance significantly affects regional collaborative innovation in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei. Specifically, public S&T finance plays an inhibitory role on regional collaborative innovation, and market S&T finance positively affects regional collaborative innovation. Secondly, both types of S&T finance have obvious heterogeneous threshold characteristics of absorptive capacity on regional collaborative innovation. Once the absorptive capacity of both regions breaks through the critical scale, the inhibiting effect of public S&T finance on regional collaborative innovation shows a weakening trend; with the improvement of technology level, the positive influence of market S&T finance on regional collaborative innovation keeps increasing. With the improvement of economic base, it shows a shift from negative to positive. The research findings provide theoretical and practical guidance for accelerating the pace of S&T innovation and the implementation mechanism of regional coordinated development.