Innovative Pilot Research Articles

Does China’s innovation-driven policy affect enterprises’ import performance of intermediate goods?

Based on a theoretical analysis of the impact of the innovative city pilot policy on manufacturing enterprises’ import behavior of intermediate goods, this paper performs a quasi-natural experiment via a multi-period differences-in-differences (DID) model with China’s innovative city pilot policy as the object. This study systematically evaluates the impact of the innovative city pilot policy on importing intermediate goods by local manufacturing enterprises. The empirical results show that implementing the innovative city pilot policy significantly increases the quantity, variety and quality of intermediate goods imported by local manufacturing enterprises. These conclusions remain valid even after a series of robustness tests. Impact mechanism tests indicate that obtaining government subsidies, alleviating financing constraints and reducing institutional transaction costs are three important channels through which the innovative city pilot policy promotes the import of intermediate goods by manufacturing enterprises. Furthermore, additional research reveals that the impact of the innovative city pilot policy on intermediate goods imports exhibits significant heterogeneity in enterprise size, age, ownership and trade mode. This study’s findings provide a new perspective for evaluating and exploring the performance of the innovative city policy and China’s foreign trade transformation and upgrading.

The impact of national land supervision system on urban low-carbon transformation: evidence from China

The land system is a crucial factor influencing urban low-carbon sustainable development. However, previous research has paid little attention to the effects and mechanisms of the national land supervision system (NLSS) on urban low-carbon transformation (ULCT). This study uses China’s routine land inspection as a quasi-natural experiment and examines the impact of NLSS on ULCT using panel data from 283 Chinese cities between 2005 and 2016. The study finds that NLSS significantly promotes ULCT, with a series of robustness checks supporting this conclusion, showing a 1.95% improvement in carbon emission performance in cities under supervision. NLSS mainly facilitates ULCT by improving land use efficiency, upgrading the structural of the service sector, and promoting technological progress. Compared to eastern cities, southern cities, large cities, and non-resource-based cities, NLSS more effectively promotes low-carbon transformation in central and western, northern, small- and medium-sized, and resource-based cities. Additionally, in contrast to cities with high environmental awareness, high marketization levels, high financial development levels, and high fiscal pressure, NLSS more strongly promotes ULCT in cities with lower levels of these factors. Furthermore, NLSS exhibits a significant positive spatial spillover effect in promoting ULCT. In advancing ULCT, NLSS can be synergized with smart city pilot policies and innovative city pilot policies but has not shown synergies with low-carbon city pilot policies.

7.G. Round table: Primary prevention and management of NCDs – the added value of joint actions across Europe

Abstract Two ambitious European joint action projects, funded through the EU4Health programme, are ongoing to reduce the burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and related risk factors in Europe, targeting both individual and societal levels. Together, these projects aim to scale up effective prevention and management strategies, strengthen public health policies and promote equitable and sustainable healthcare systems across Europe. The Joint Action on CARdiovascular Diseases and DIabetes (JACARDI), with 21 participating countries and a total budget of over €66 million, is focusing on enhancing the implementation of evidence-based innovative pilot projects across the entire patient journey. This includes efforts to improve prevention, early diagnosis, and proactive management of NCDs. The Joint Action Prevent Non-Communicable Diseases (JA PreventNCD), with 25 participating countries and a total budget of over €95 million, particularly aims to enhance joint capacities of countries for implementing, scaling up and evaluating prevention policies and actions at various levels. These projects represent complementary responses to calls for action in Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan and the Healthier Together - EU NCD Initiative, with JA PreventNCD emphasizing primary prevention and policy while JACARDI focuses on secondary prevention and health systems strengthening. Both projects will generate new policy-relevant evidence based on implementation, monitoring and scaling-up of best and innovative practices and policies across Europe. The projects share a focus on equity, diversity, scalability and sustainability, while avoiding fragmentation and duplication of actions. Under the EU4Health programme, launched to strengthen European health collaboration in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the EU has recently invested over €200 million in public health initiatives, with additional investments from national authorities participating in the joint actions. With this new wave of funding, real population impact should be anticipated, but what can we realistically expect to be the outcomes and what are the criteria for success? In this round table discussion 1) these two joint action projects will be presented, highlighting their innovative aspects; 2) views on the added value and potential in cross-national collaborations for prevention and management of NCDs will be debated, and 3) how synergies will be leveraged for maximum impact will be explored. Panelists will share their perspectives on the projects’ potential to change the public health landscape in Europe. Workshop participants will subsequently be encouraged to engage in the discussion with the objective that views and experiences are exchanged, opportunities for collaboration and engagement are shared and energy is mobilized to harness the benefits of such large-scale policy-relevant collaborations. Key messages • Synergies and collaboration to drive policy development and foster increased capacity are the pillars to build a healthier Europe. • Two large-scale Joint Actions drive impact by highlighting innovative NCD prevention strategies and fostering collaborative engagement.

Deep Dive Into Noninvasive Biometrics: A Pilot Journey Using Stereo-Video in a Public Aquarium.

Accurate collection of biometric data is important for understanding the biology and conservation of marine organisms, including elasmobranch and teleost fish, both in nature and controlled environments where monitoring marine specimens' health is mandatory. Traditional methods involving specimen capture and handling are invasive, stressful, and disruptive. Some techniques like underwater visual census or laser photogrammetry have been used for noninvasive data collection, but they have limitations and biases. The application of stereo-video photogrammetry through the use of diver-operated stereo-video systems (stereo-DOV) is a noninvasive method that overcomes these challenges, providing highly accurate measurements. It has become popular for species monitoring, studying anthropogenic impacts, and assessing length distributions. However, this technique is still uncommon and barely reported in aquarium settings. This study describes an innovative pilot study targeting multiple species carried out in a Public Aquarium, using a low-cost house-made device. The results revealed that measuring more than 100 individuals in approximately 1 day's work is possible. Total and fork lengths were estimated using specific software for 31 teleost and 16 elasmobranch species and compared with real measurements for the available species. Despite technical limitations that must be reviewed for application in future studies that resulted in high root mean square (RMS) values (> 20 mm), differences between methodological approaches revealed a minimal discrepancy (1.37%-5% in large sharks and rays and 1.8%-5.5% in teleost fish). This technique has time and cost requirements, but might represent a major advance in husbandry and in the contribution to conservation that ex situ studies can provide.

Accelerating corporate innovation ecosystems: The exprivia business incubator case study

Large enterprises and start-ups collaborate to adopt Open Innovation (OI) strategies and to develop digital technologies. In this setting, Business Incubators (BI), which connect large firms and startups, are now vital to the Corporate Open Innovation Ecosystem (COIE). A single case study method was adopted for the multinational company Exprivia, operating in the ICT sector. The results show how Exprivia created a COIE through an innovative BI pilot project to operationalize OI and promote knowledge collaboration between companies, universities, and start-ups. Strategic implications for large organizations involves defining OI strategies based on Corporate BIs to sustain growth and profitability.

Path to sustainable development: The effect of China's innovative industrial clusters pilot policy on prefecture-level cities' green total factor productivity

To enhance industrial production efficiency and promote sustainable social development, the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology announced the innovative industrial clusters pilot (IICP) policy and named three batches of pilot cities in 2013, 2014, and 2017. Whether this significant industrial policy has promoted green total factor productivity (GTFP) is a meaningful but under investigated question in the literature. This study thus explores the above question using a multiperiod spatial difference-in-differences approach and panel data from 273 prefecture-level cities covering 2007–2021. The super slacks based measure and Dagum Gini coefficient are first utilized to assess city-level GTFP and evaluate its spatiotemporal evolutionary features. The intraregional and interregional differences of GTFP reveal expanding trends, with contribution rates to the overall difference above 30%. Benchmark and robustness tests demonstrate promotional direct and spatial spillover effects of the IICP on GTFP. We also employ several additional tests for deeper exploration, determining that a) the direct effect of IICP gradually increases over time, with an evident a time-lag effect, and the positive spatial spillover effect has fluctuated since the policy was enforced; b) the heterogeneity effects of the IICP on GTFP was detected; c) green scientific and technological innovation is an important mechanism of how IICP implementation affects cities' GTFP; and d) the promotional effect of the IICP on GTFP significantly increases when industrial structure upgrading exceeds certain threshold values. The empirical findings of this study not only provide theoretical and practical recommendations for Chinese policymakers to enhance the IICP's policy effect, but also offer suggestions for other emerging markets to develop similar policies for sustainable social development.

How does the construction of new generation of national AI innovative development pilot zones drive enterprise ESG development? Empirical evidence from China

How does the construction of new generation of national AI innovative development pilot zones drive enterprise ESG development? Empirical evidence from China

Does innovative city construction boost urban employment? Evidence from China

ABSTRACT The impact of innovation-driven policies on employment in developing countries deserves due attention. This study systematically assesses the impact of innovative city pilot (ICP) policy on urban employment in China. Theoretical analyses suggest that the total effects of innovation-driven policies on employment depend on the relative magnitude of the job-creation effects versus the job-substitution effects. We construct time-varying Differences-in-Differences (DID) models using data on 280 Chinese cities from 2003 to 2017. It is found that total employment of ICP cities was increased by about 10.22% after the policy shock. Namely, we confirm that ICP policy’s job-creation effects are larger than the job-substitution effects. These results remain robust to the exclusion of heterogeneous treatment effects, the effects of other relevant policies, selection bias issues, and other unobservable random factors. Furthermore, impact mechanisms tests reveal that the science expenditure channel and industrial structure upgrading channel partially transmitted the ICP policy’s effects on urban employment. Moreover, in the heterogeneity analysis section, we find that the employment dividend of ICP policy varies significantly across regions and industries. Finally, we came up with some policy implications on how to mitigate the regional and sectoral inequalities of ICP policy’s employment effects.

Grow Your Own School Mental Health Specialists: A Policy Pilot to Address Behavioral Health Workforce Shortages in Schools.

The capacity of schools to address behavioral health concerns presents an emerging challenge, exacerbated by major shortages in the workforce. Schools across the U.S. are struggling to hire licensed behavioral health professionals, with additional barriers encountered when seeking to hire practitioners with experience in educational settings. In 2023, a school district in the suburbs of Columbus, Ohio, partnered with The Ohio State University to launch a "grow your own" policy pilot. The priorities focused on addressing workforce shortages and leveraging the experiences of current teachers/staff to support growing needs related to student mental health and well-being. More specifically, the district utilized COVID-19 relief funds to recruit, train, and transition 25 teachers/staff into school mental health positions by underwriting the costs of each professional's Master of Social Work (MSW) degree. Here, we (a) describe the district-university partnership and the processes guiding the implementation of the "grow your own" model, (b) distill preliminary findings about district needs regarding behavioral health, and (c) explore facilitators, barriers, and outcomes associated with learning among participants in the program. The findings from a district-wide staff survey indicated a high level of need for individual counseling, crisis intervention, and small group interventions. Additionally, qualitative interviews revealed that learning among the program's participants was facilitated by effective classroom strategies and specific learning experiences integral to the program's design. These facilitators supported key learning outcomes, including general social work knowledge, self-awareness, and therapeutic skills that are foundational for engaging with students, parents/families, teachers/staff, and the broader school community. This innovative policy pilot and training model demonstrate how universities and local educational agencies can partner to address workforce development challenges at the intersection of behavioral health and education.

Does the Innovative City Pilot Policy Promote Urban Energy Use Efficiency? Evidence from China

The innovative city pilot policy (ICPP) is a key policy practice in China’s innovation-driven economic strategy, yet its influence on urban energy use efficiency (UEUE) has yet to be assessed. This study used balanced panel data from Chinese cities from the period of 2006 to 2022 to investigate the impact of innovative cities on urban energy consumption efficiency. The double-difference method, which treats creative cities as quasi-natural experiments, was applied to identify the impact mechanism of these cities. Additionally, this study looked at heterogeneity from several angles and assessed the effects of the policy on the environment. Following thorough testing to guarantee the reliability of the findings of this study—such as changing variables, ruling out further policy interferences, and running placebo tests—it can be concluded that the pilot program significantly improves urban energy consumption. The mechanism analysis performed in this study shows that, via talent concentration, utilizing technology, and optimizing the industrial structure, the creative city pilot policies increase energy consumption efficiency. Additionally, a heterogeneity analysis shows that eastern cities and cities with a high degree of digital finance benefit most from the legislation in terms of energy consumption efficiency. The application of creative city pilot programs has a more noticeable effect on increasing the energy consumption efficiency in eastern cities, as well as in cities with a high degree of digital infrastructure and digital finance, according to the heterogeneity analysis. Furthermore, an environmental consequence test shows that, by encouraging the growth of UEUE, the development of innovative cities can successfully help to reduce carbon emissions.

Monogram and Heat Map on Magnetic Resonance Imaging to Evaluate the Recommendation for Myomectomy in Patients with Infertility: A Pilot Study.

Uterine myomas can cause infertility. Studies are attempting to determine the indications for myomectomy. However, the multiplicity and localization of myomas complicate this issue. We aimed to develop a visualization tool to aid patients with infertility in their decision-making for myomectomy. We included 191 women with uterine myoma attending an outpatient infertility clinic, of whom 124 patients underwent myomectomy. Of these, 65 (52.4%) patients became pregnant within 17.6 months after surgery, and 54 (83.1%) of them had a live birth. A logistic regression model predicting the pregnancy rate (area under the curve, 0.82; 95% confidence interval, 0.74-0.89; validation value, 74.6%) was generated using the leave-one-out cross-validation method. This model incorporated five factors: age, maximum level of infertility intervention following myomectomy, presence of submucosal myoma, maximum diameter of the myoma, and type of myomas (multiple or single). We successfully visualized the degree of involvement of each factor in the pregnancy rate by developing a nomogram based on this model. We expanded the data from the preoperative magnetic resonance images and applied machine learning using a convolutional neural network. The classification accuracy was 71.4% for sensitivity and 77.7% for specificity. Heatmap images, generated using gradient-weighted class activation mapping to show the classification results of this model, could distinguish between myomas that required enucleation and those that did not. Although a larger sample size is needed to further validate our findings, this innovative pilot study demonstrates the potential of machine learning to refine assessment criteria and improve patient decision-making.

The Impact of Innovative and Low-Carbon Pilot Cities on Green Innovation

Green innovation has emerged as a crucial strategy for reconciling economic development with environmental protection. While numerous policies target various aspects of innovation or green development individually, fewer policies address green innovation specifically. This raises the question of whether individual policies alone are sufficient to advance green innovation or whether a combination of policies is required. To address this, we analyze data from Chinese cities at the prefectural level or higher, focusing on the intersecting policies of innovative cities and low-carbon pilot cities as key explanatory variables. Using a longitudinal difference-in-differences model, our study examines the effects of these concurrent policies on green innovation and investigates the mechanisms underlying their effectiveness. Our findings reveal that the dual-pilot policy significantly promotes green innovation through four key pathways: regional economy, financial level, employment conditions, and education level. After confirming the efficacy of each policy individually, we rule out the impact of single or non-overlapping policies. This confirms that the observed enhancement in green innovation results from the combined effect of the two policies rather than from either policy in isolation. The study concludes with recommendations for further enhancing green innovation, based on the empirical evidence obtained.

Using Brainstorming and Affinity Diagramming for Recommending a Care-Based Nursing Workforce Model.

Nursing care delivery models influence nursing workload. Poorly designed nursing workforce models may lead to lack of satisfaction in practice, inability to recruit staff, and nursing turnover. This paper describes a process that our team undertook to evaluate one nursing unit's nursing care delivery model and provides a recommendation for a nursing workforce model that ensures practice to top of scope while maintaining a balanced workload. Team brainstorming and affinity diagramming tools were used. The team findings resulted in a recommendation for an innovative care-based nursing model pilot. The use of brainstorming and affinity diagramming is an effective method for identifying opportunities to improve a nursing workforce model.

Does innovative city pilot policy improve carbon reduction? Quasi-experimental evidence from China

A new direction for China in exploring sustainable development is the Innovative City Pilot Policy (ICPP), which provides policy guidance for accelerating carbon peaking and carbon neutrality by reducing carbon emissions. With data from 282 cities spanning 2006–2018, this paper examines ICPP's effect on carbon intensity (CI) through a multi-period difference-in-differences (DID) model, as well as exploring the mediating effect, moderating effect, heterogeneity, and spatial spillover effects. The results show that ICPP reduces CI significantly by enhancing technology innovation (TI), and when industrial structure (IS) is added, the effect of ICPP is expanded. The ICPP gains additional advantages in reducing CI by optimizing the efficiency of resource allocation (ERA). Compared with the concentration of human capital (HCL), the amount of scientific research institutes (SRI) has a slightly greater moderating effect. ICPP impacts considering location, size, and hierarchy heterogeneity. ICPP has a greater impact on mitigating CI in the western, larger size, and provincial capital cities. There are positive spillover effects of the ICPP on neighboring CI. To support the idea that ICPP can effectively contribute to CI reduction, this paper provides empirical evidence and theoretical guidelines.

Does the innovative city pilot policy improve university–industry collaborations in China?

Does the innovative city pilot policy improve university–industry collaborations in China?

Towards low-carbon development through innovation: Empirical evidence from China

Innovation is crucial for countries to achieve their carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals. To explore how and to what extent innovation contributes to low-carbon development, this study utilizes data from 272 Chinese cities, applying both staggered difference-in-differences and spatial econometric approaches to comprehensively assess the direct and spatial spillover effects of China's innovative city pilot policy on urban low-carbon development. The findings are as follows: First, the innovative city pilot policy has reduced urban carbon intensity by 4.62 % and increased carbon total factor productivity by 3.03 %, with the effect being more significant in larger cities. Second, mechanism analysis indicates that the innovative city pilot policy primarily promotes urban low-carbon development through innovation financing and talent attraction, rather than optimizing industrial structures Third, spatial analysis reveals that the innovative city pilot policy has a low-carbon spillover effect, indicating it can promote low-carbon development in neighboring cities. Finally, this paper proposes policy recommendations for combining innovative city pilot policies with climate policies, focusing on the underlying mechanisms, and exploring cross-regional linkages.

Digital disruption and energy efficiency: The impact of regional digitalization on China's industrial sector

Using the unique micro-data of industrial enterprises' Nitrogen oxides (NOx) and Sulfur oxides (SOx) emissions covering 58,725 enterprise-year observations, this paper investigates how digitalization affect energy efficiency. The empirical results show that regional digitalization can significantly promote the improvement of energy efficiency of industrial enterprises. Specifically, the result of PSM-DID method indicates that the impact of digitalization on energy efficiency is significantly enhanced by the “National innovative pilot cities” policy, while the dynamic result validates the continuity of industrial enterprises' energy efficiency. Moreover, regional digitalization has superior impact on enterprises within eastern region enterprises, the manufacturing sector, and with elevated liquidity and profitability levels. Finally, moderating effect suggests that technological innovation expand the positive impact of digitalization on enterprises’ energy efficiency. This study confirms regional digitalization can promote the energy efficiency of Chinese industrial enterprises, providing the policy suggestions to the energy transition in China.

Can innovative industrial clusters enhance urban economic resilience? A quasi-natural experiment based on an innovative pilot policy

Using data for 285 cities in China spanning the period from 2010 to 2019, we investigate the overall effect, heterogeneity, and mechanisms of industrial cluster development on urban economic resilience using the staggered difference-in-differences method (DID). Our study shows that innovative industrial clusters can improve local urban economic resilience and offer a cumulative learning effect, but increase economic vulnerability in neighboring cities. A heterogeneity analysis finds that piloting innovative industrial clusters has a more significant influence on economic resilience in more mature clusters, middle-labor-scale cities, areas with moderate economic development, and regions applying more artificial intelligence (AI) technology. An influencing mechanism analysis shows that piloting innovative industrial clusters mainly appears as a scale effect in the earlier stage of green finance development, while there is a network effect in the later stage, both of which promote economic resilience. This conclusion may serve as the foundation for more secure and sustainable growth in the global economy.

Does urban innovation policy accelerate the digital transformation of enterprises? Evidence based on the innovative City pilot policy

With the evolution of the digital economy, the gradual digital transformation of enterprises has garnered considerable attention in the market, profoundly influencing sustainable business operations. Local governments are actively fostering this transformation through urban innovation policies. This study analyzes Chinese A-share listed companies from 2003 to 2021 as the research sample. The implementation of the national innovative city pilot policy is regarded as an exogenous shock. A difference-in-differences model was constructed to empirically explore the impact of the national innovative city pilot policy for innovative cities on the digital transformation of local enterprises. The findings indicate a significant enhancement in the level of enterprise digital transformation due to the innovative city pilot policy, supported by robustness tests. Mechanism analysis identifies four pathways through which the policy drives digital transformation: advancing technological progress, improving internal controls, mitigating financing constraints, and reinforcing government support. Subsequent investigations reveal noteworthy heterogeneity in the policy's impact on enterprise digital transformation based on attributes, scale, growth cycles, and regions. The study's conclusions offer valuable insights for maximizing the effectiveness of innovative city pilot policies and fostering enterprise digital transformation.

Health and lifestyle advisors in support of primary care: An evaluation of an innovative pilot service in a region of high health inequality.

A health and lifestyle advisor service embedded within primary care was piloted in Kingston-upon-Hull from January 2021. We aimed to evaluate the first two years of service delivery by identifying patient demographics referred to the service, reason for referral, determine uptake and retention rates, and monitor individual lifestyle-related risk factor changes following discharge. Anonymised data were extracted from the SystmOne database for all patients referred to the service between January 2021 and January 2023. In the initial two years of the service, 705 unique patients were referred at a mean rate of ∼29 per month. Each unique patient received a median (robust median absolute deviation; [MAD]) of 3 (Steel N, et al 2018) planned consultations prior to discharge over this period. The majority of referrals were for symptom management and health promotion purposes (95%). Of those referred, 69% attended their appointments, and 14% did not attend. The majority of referrals were white British (55%), however, the service did receive a substantial number of referrals from minority ethnic groups, with only 67% of referrals speaking English as their main language. Eighteen distinct languages were spoken. Most referrals were classified as class I obese (59.4%). Across initial and final appointments, median (robust MAD) systolic blood pressure was 130 (15) mmHg and 130 (15) mmHg, and median (robust MAD) waist circumference was 103.0 (13.3) cm and 101.0 (13.3) cm. The evaluation highlighted the demand for this service embedded within primary care settings in Kingston-upon-Hull. Service engagement was evident, and a large proportion of those who engaged were from minority ethnic groups. A high proportion of referrals presented with obesity and/or hypertension which requires further investigation.