Urban Innovation Research Articles

The power of innovation diffusion: How patent transfer affects urban innovation quality

The complexity and sustainability of technology are both important standards to measure innovation quality. As the diffusion of innovation is generated outside the region, patent transfer may have a promoting or crowding-out effect on urban innovation quality. We analyzed the spatial distribution characteristics of China’s urban patent transfer network. This empirical study, considering the heterogeneity of cities and patents, found that patent introduction in developed cities will promote substantive innovation measured by the proportion of invention patent. Additionally, the patent outward transfer has a crowding-out effect on the sustainable innovation of underdeveloped cities. Further analysis shows that when the institutional threshold of intellectual property protection is exceeded, the promotion of patent introduction and outward transfer in developed cities to local substantive innovation will be significantly enhanced. Conversely, in underdeveloped cities, the impact of patent outward transfer on substantive and sustainable innovation will change from promoting effect to crowding-out effect, that is, it induces the market failure of local technological innovation.

Dynamic Measurement Analysis of Urban Innovation Ability and Ecological Efficiency in China

To establish the evaluation index system of urbanization innovation level and ecological efficiency, the entropy method is applied to measure the comprehensive index of urbanization innovation level and ecological efficiency, the VAR model is established, and empirical measurement is used to study the internal relationship and dynamic development between urbanization innovation level and ecological efficiency. The empirical results show the following: (1) The overall development of the innovation level in 30 cities in China is uneven, there is a large gap between the urban innovation level in backwards areas and economically developed areas, and there is a certain coupling effect between the urban innovation level and ecological efficiency. (2) There is a long-term dynamic equilibrium relationship between the urban innovation level and ecological efficiency, which will exert certain pressure on the ecological environment in the process of urbanization. However, the continuous improvement of urbanization will have a positive impact on the improvement of the ecological environment. (3) The improvement of ecological efficiency will also promote the improvement of the urban innovation level. Therefore, this paper puts forwards policy suggestions to promote the harmonious development of urbanization and the ecological environment and provides a reference for realizing the balanced development of urbanization and ecological efficiency in China.

The Influence of Land Disposition Derived from Land Finance on Urban Innovation in China: Mechanism Discussion and Empirical Evidence.

As China’s economy advances into a new stage of high-quality development driven by scientific and technological innovation, it is of great practical importance to probe what effects land disposition, which underpinned the previous round of rapid economic growth, and may have an exertion on developing innovation. Based on a deep exploration of the potential positive and negative influences of land disposition in relation to the effects of land finance on urban innovation, we employed a dynamic spatial Durbin model, along with panel data from 266 Chinese prefecture-level cities over the period 2004–2017. The empirical results show that the development of China’s urban innovation has had significant path dependence, spatial agglomeration, and inhibiting effects on neighboring cities, and these effects are attributed to inter-governmental competition and the Matthew effect. Overall, the combined impacts of land disposition modes on urban innovation have changed, from facilitative in the early stage to inhibitory at present. In the developed cities of east China, the facilitative effect of land disposition has weakened gradually, and tends to disappear entirely, while the change in impact over time in less developed mid-western cities is consistent with the national sample. This study broadens our understanding of the role of land disposition in China’s urban innovative development and has meaningful direct implications for policymakers.

Land marketization and urban innovation capability: Evidence from China

The economic effect of land marketization reform has been widely discussed, but its effect on urban innovation capability still lacks adequate investigation. Based on urban panel data and micro-industrial enterprise data of China, we investigated how land marketization affects urban innovation capability. Our results demonstrate that land marketization has promoted urban innovation capability, and the effect presents temporal and spatial heterogeneity. The results remain robust when considering different marketization measurement methods and endogenous problems. Mechanism analysis indicates that land marketization promotes urban innovation capability mainly through the financing and selection effects; that is, land marketization eases urban financing constraints and then increases innovation investment (financing effect), while enterprises are forced to innovate to survive in a competitive land market (selection effect). An effective way to stimulate urban innovation capability would be to establish and improve land market competition and market transaction mechanisms. For China, further deepening the market-oriented reform of land factors is the crux of realizing high-quality development.

The influence of high-speed rails on urban innovation and the underlying mechanism.

Innovation is intrinsically dependent on the construction of local infrastructure. Using panel data on 285 cities in China, we empirically examined the impact of high-speed rails on urban innovation and the mechanism underlying this effect. We found that high-speed rails significantly increase urban innovation. In our analysis, high-speed rails were found to increase the agglomeration of innovation factors, including population and investment, which in turn increase urban technological innovation. The agglomeration of investment factors brought about by high-speed rails is the main source of the improvement in urban innovation. Through the use of a spatial panel model, we found that high-speed rails promote knowledge dissemination and technology spillovers among the cities along high-speed railways, thus improving their innovation levels. However, the existing effects of high-speed rails on innovation exhibit spatial heterogeneity. We confirmed the effect of high-speed rails on innovation and explored the mechanism underlying this effect by considering the effects of factor agglomeration and knowledge spillovers. Our conclusions can be used as a resource by policymakers to stimulate knowledge and technology diffusion, which in turn cultivates and stimulates urban innovation.

Impact and mechanism analysis of smart city policy on urban innovation: Evidence from China

Innovation is a key source of economic development , and arguably the driving engine of urban economic development. Based on a quasi-natural experiment of national smart city construction, this paper investigates the urban innovation effect of policy using the multi-phase differences-in-differences model. The results show that implementing a smart city construction policy improves the urban innovation output, and that the effect on the degree of urban innovation was relatively significant after implementation. A further heterogeneity analysis showed that smart city development in different regions has different impacts on urban innovation; specifically, compared with the central and western regions, smart city construction in eastern China was seen to have a higher impact on urban innovation output. Moreover, the findings also demonstrated that smart city construction policies have different impacts on urban innovation output in cities of different urban scales. Namely, applying the smart city construction policy to medium-sized cities will exert a positive effect on urban innovation. This study aims to contribute to the promotion of urban development, the improvement of urban innovation capacity.

Multiple Effects of Urban Innovation Activities on Growth of Key Industries: Case Study in Hangzhou, China

Abstract Promoting the development of innovation activities has become one important strategy for major countries and municipalities globally to promote economic growth. How can innovation-based ec...

Green technology innovations, urban innovation environment and CO2 emission reduction in China: Fresh evidence from a partially linear functional-coefficient panel model

• We use a partially linear function-coefficient model to explore the nonlinear moderating effect of the urban innovation environment on the impact of green technology innovation on carbon dioxide emissions. • There are heterogeneous impacts of green technology innovations on CO2 emissions in different periods and different types of cities. • Green technology innovation can reduce CO2 emissions indirectly through industrial structure upgrading. • Government fiscal expenditure cannot significantly impact the CO2 reduction effect of green technologies. • The effect of green technology innovations on CO2 emissions is only significant when the human capital level of a city has reached a certain level. Green technology innovations have a better carbon emission reduction effect in cities with higher human capital levels. Green technology innovations are deemed as effective channels through which economic growth and environmental governance are balanced. However, empirical research on the nexus between green technology innovations and CO 2 emissions, especially in developing countries, remains scant. Employing panel data on 264 prefecture-level cities from 2006 to 2017 in China, we explore the impact of the urban innovation environment on the effect of green technological innovations on CO 2 emissions. The empirical results indicate that green technology innovations have a heterogeneous impact in different types of cities. Meanwhile, green technological innovations can contribute to CO 2 emission mitigation after 2010, while the effect is not significant in Chinese cities before 2010. Secondly, green technology innovations can reduce CO 2 emissions indirectly through industrial structure upgrading. Thirdly, when the urban innovation environment is considered, government fiscal expenditure cannot significantly impact the marginal effect of green technologies. Meanwhile, the marginal mitigation effect of green technology innovations on CO 2 emissions is only significant when the human capital level of a city has reached a certain level. There is a better carbon emission reduction effect in cities with higher human capital levels. The results provide important enlightenment to realize the coordination and unity of economic transition to innovation-driven and green and low-carbon development.

Mainstreaming sustainable innovation: unlocking the potential of nature-based solutions for climate change and biodiversity

Sustainable innovation has been widely acknowledged as the key driver for societal transitions towards sustainability. Recently, there have been widespread calls to mainstream nature-based solutions (NBS), a form of socio-ecological-technical innovation, to address urban sustainable development concerns especially for climate change and increasingly for biodiversity loss. However, what mainstreaming means and how sustainability-oriented innovations like NBS can be mainstreamed to benefit multiple agendas remains underexplored. In this paper, we first critically discuss existing literature on mainstreaming and argue that the common understanding of the concept rooted in policy sciences does not fit the governance context in which urban innovations like NBS are being shaped and adopted. Drawing on sustainability transitions and urban studies literature, we then propose a new approach that promotes the use of NBS to deliver multiple sustainability goals simultaneously. We argue that mainstreaming NBS relies on identifying and acting on a certain set of key forms of interventions - stepping stones - that can facilitate the embeddedness and maintenance of NBS across urban infrastructure regimes. Based on case studies of existing European practices, we identify pivotal stepping stones and promising pathways for mainstreaming NBS for climate change and biodiversity separately and explore what this means for addressing both agendas simultaneously.

Analysis of the Contribution of Urban Innovation Ecosystems to Environmental Sustainability

This paper is aimed to analyze the relationships between environmental sustainability, urban ecosystems and green innovation. The method employed is the critical analytical review of literature and further discussion on the issues focusing the city´s experience on managing the formulation, generation, development, implementation and evaluation of new behaviors and ideas in green innovation. It is concluded that the green innovation is directly related with the environmental sustainability and urban ecosystems. The interest of this analysis lies in providing support to urban settlements in managing the risks inherent in green area innovation, incremental or radical as a community’s management would experience in relation to the environmental sustainability in urban ecosystems.

Research on urban innovation efficiency of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area based on DEA-Malmquist model.

In order to scientifically evaluate the allocation efficiency of science and technology innovation system and build a good science and technology financial environment, this paper constructs an evaluation index system based on the panel data of 11 cities in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area from 2010 to 2019. By using the Three-stage DEA model and Malmquist model, this paper makes a static and dynamic analysis on the efficiency of scientific and technological innovation, calculates the efficiency of scientific and technological innovation, and reveals its internal reasons. The results show that: the productivity of scientific and technological innovation in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has been steadily improved; technological progress is the key factor to promote the productivity of scientific and technological innovation; there are differences in the efficiency of scientific and technological innovation in the same city, and the efficiency of scale has inhibited the efficiency of scientific and technological innovation to a certain extent.

Are there political cycles hidden inside collaborative innovation efficiency? An empirical study based on Chinese cities

AbstractShifting political interests of government officials stemming from the Provincial Party Congress (PPC) affects the efficiency of urban innovation. In this paper, intra-city collaborative innovation efficiency (CIE) and inter-city CIE were both analyzed. The intra-city CIE among 285 Chinese cities from 2004 to 2018 was estimated using network data envelopment analysis model, with a gravity model utilized to measure inter-city CIE. Based on a fixed-effect model, the relationship between estimated change in CIE and political cycle is revealed from the perspective of PPC. The study finds that across all cities, (1) cyclical fluctuations in CIE synchronize with the timing of PPC. The inter-city CIE is more sensitive to political cycles than that of intra-city. (2) The turnover effect of PPC cannot be equated with leadership transition alone at non-PPC years. Furthermore, heterogeneity analysis identified differential effects of features of government officials and cities on political cycles of urban CIE.

How does air pollution affect urban innovation capability? Evidence from 281 cities in China

Technological innovation may help to reduce air pollution, but existing relevant studies have not clarified whether and how air pollution affects urban innovation capability. Therefore, based on the fixed-effect model, we examine a panel of 281 prefecture-level cities in China from 2003 to 2015, and find that air pollution significantly inhibits the improvement of urban innovation capability on the whole in China. Meanwhile, affected by the “human resource loss effect”, air pollution in cities of large scale or eastern China has a significantly greater inhibitory effect on innovation capabilities. Besides, affected by the “resource crowding out effect”, the negative impact of air pollution on urban innovation capability in key environmental protection cities is far greater than that in non-key cities.

Detecting contagious spreading of urban innovations on the global city network

Only a fast and global transformation towards decarbonization and sustainability can keep the Earth in a civilization-friendly state. As hotspots for (green) innovation and experimentation, cities could play an important role in this transition. They are also known to profit from each other’s ideas, with policy and technology innovations spreading to other cities. In this way, cities can be conceptualized as nodes in a globe-spanning learning network. The dynamics of this process are important for society’s response to climate change and other challenges, but remain poorly understood on a macroscopic level. In this contribution, we develop an approach to identify whether network-based complex contagion effects are a feature of sustainability policy adoption by cities, based on dose-response contagion and surrogate data models. We apply this methodology to an exemplary data set, comprising empirical data on the spreading of a public transport innovation (Bus Rapid Transit Systems) and a global inter-city connection network based on scheduled flight routes. Although our approach is not able to identify detailed mechanisms, our results point towards a contagious spreading process, and cannot be explained by either the network structure or the increase in global adoption rate alone. Further research on the role of a city’s abstract “global neighborhood” regarding its policy and innovation decisions is thus both needed and promising, and may connect with research on social tipping processes. The methodology is generic, and can be used to compare the predictive power for innovation spreading of different kinds of inter-city network connections, e.g. via transport links, trade, or co-membership in political networks.

Influencing factors of urban innovation and development: a grounded theory analysis.

Urban innovation and development are a core driver for promoting the industrial, economic, and social development of cities. However, the factors that affect the innovation and development of cities lack systematic analysis as well as interaction analysis. Based on a multidimensional perspective, this study suggests that natural, economic, and social factors are three major factors conditioning urban innovation and development. A grounded theoretical qualitative method is further adopted to code relevant research literatures, news reports and interview materials, resulting in an onion factors model. We find that natural factors–including environmental quality, geographic location, and city scale–are prerequisite for conditioning urban innovation and development. Economic factors are also key, including economic level, industrial structure, industrial agglomeration, and technological innovation. Social factors are guarantee factors, including administrative hierarchy, cultural environment, population structure, and government management and services, i.e., they are essential for cities to become adaptable in the current dynamic situation. The study provides theoretical support and practical directions for the formulation of policies for urban innovation development.

Innovative Multi-Actor Collaborations as Collective Actors and Institutionalized Spaces. The Case of Food Governance Transformation in Leuven (Belgium)

The sustainable transformation of food systems is a particularly prolific field in which innovative multi-actor collaborations (IMACs) are being tested. Despite the growing literature on food governance and transformation of food systems, and on the principles of alternative food networks and local food strategies, little is known about how these are implemented and how multi-actor networks are coordinated and governed. Taking food as a lens, our objectives are to identify (1) how IMACs are established, (2) how collaboration is enacted within them, and (3) how governance innovations in these fields affect and are affected by broader urban governance innovation. Methodologically, we take a transdisciplinary action research approach, combining different groups of researchers with stakeholders involved in two on-going and interacting IMAC trajectories in Leuven (Belgium), i.e., the non-profit governmental organization Leuven2030 aiming to achieve climate-neutrality and the parallel collective development and implementation of the local food strategy “Food Connects.” After reconstructing the trajectory of these IMACs from a governance perspective and discussing their current limitations, we realize that these IMACs perform both as collective actors and as institutionalized spaces for experimentation and transformative change. Our findings demonstrate that IMACs can be an empowering tool for local actors to challenge supra-local and systemic power imbalance and injustice; that networking and supra-local connections of urban actors can increase the legitimacy and outreach of transition processes, mobilization of resources and peer-learning; and that the consolidation of IMACs builds on previous sedimentations of experimentation and benefits from the impulse of political will in specific windows of opportunity. We conclude that the institutionalization of common objectives set within IMACs requires a parallel institutionalization of governance structures that enabled reaching them, which entails defining specific roles and responsibilities among actors and ensuring stable spaces for conflict, deliberation, and negotiation.

The pain of breathing: how does haze pollution affect urban innovation?

In China, innovation plays an important role in achieving economic development with green growth, but innovation activities are inhibited by the spread of haze pollution (also called smog). Using panel data on 265 cities in China at the prefectural level from 2001 to 2018, this paper investigates the relationship between haze pollution and urban innovation. The conclusions are as follows. First, haze pollution has a significant inhibitory effect on urban innovation. After we consider endogeneity, eliminate extreme values, replace variables, and incorporate spatial correlation, we find that the negative impact of haze pollution on urban innovation still exists. Second, the channels through which haze pollution affects urban innovation are mainly attributed to production efficiency, willingness to consume, and entrepreneurial activity. Third, the inhibitory effect of haze pollution on innovation has a spatial spillover effect. Fourth, among the different regions in China, the most serious inhibitory effect of haze pollution on innovation is in the central region, while that of the eastern and western regions is insignificant. Moreover, across diverse Chinese cities, the significant inhibitory effects of haze pollution on innovation are mainly in cities that are abundant in natural resource. Accordingly, the efficient management of haze pollution is a critical prerequisite and effective guarantee for increasing urban innovation, such as promoting clean energy, strengthening technological innovation, and improving human capital.

Labor agglomeration and urban air pollution: research on labor force based on skill heterogeneity in China.

Labor agglomeration with heterogeneous skills has different effects on urban air pollution. Based on the panel data of 263 prefecture level cities in China from 2006 to 2019, this paper constructs a Spatial Durbin Model to explore the impact of skill heterogeneous labor agglomeration and the interaction between skill heterogeneous labor agglomeration on urban air pollution. The results show that there is a positive U-shaped relationship between high-skilled labor agglomeration, low-skilled labor agglomeration, and urban air pollution. From the perspective of restraining urban air pollution, high-skilled labor agglomeration is stronger than low-skilled labor agglomeration. Under the influence of high skilled labor agglomeration, the inhibitory effect of low-skilled labor agglomeration on urban air pollution is enhanced. High-skilled labor agglomeration and low-skilled labor agglomeration reduce the degree of urban air pollution by promoting the improvement of urban innovation level. Based on this, this paper puts forward some policy suggestions, such as further promoting urban labor agglomeration, formulating reasonable urban population management policies, strengthening labor exchange and learning, and carrying out labor knowledge and skills training.

Can international students help enhance China's urban innovation?

The growing number of international students coming to China has injected new vitality into the development of an innovative economy in the mainland. In this paper, we employ a panel fixed-effect model to examine how international students affect China's technological innovation. Our paper finds that international students in China have significantly promoted urban innovation in China, reflected not only in the expansion of urban innovation scale but also in the improvement of the urban patent structure and innovation quality. This highlights the need to increase the scale of international education and improve the quality of international education.

Can government venture capital guidance funds promote urban innovation? Evidence from China

AbstractDue to externalities and market failure, innovation activities are facing insufficient investment. Venture capital guidance funds (VCGFs) are an important policy implemented by China's government to guide private capital to participate in innovation and entrepreneurship activities, and it can have an important impact on scientific and technological innovation. Based on the panel data of 285 cities in China, this paper empirically analyzed the impact of VCGFs on innovation and its mechanism. VCGFs can significantly promote urban innovation and this role is sustained for three years following VCGF establishment. Further research shows that VCGFs do not have a direct impact on innovation but promote innovation by promoting the accumulation of innovative talent and capital, and the capital accumulation effect of VCGFs is the main path through which they promote urban innovation. Corruption is also a factor that restricts the effectiveness of an innovation policy. Thus, China's top‐down anticorruption campaigns can strengthen the ability of VCGFs to promote urban innovation. This paper opens the black box to show the mechanism through which VCGFs impact urban innovation, affirms the important role of the government in the regional innovation system, and clarifies the debate on government innovation policy.