Whether the Transformation of Urban Development Can Improve the Level of Innovation: Evidence from the National Pilot Project of Innovative Cities
WANG Xiangxiang1, LIU Pu2
1. School of Economics and Trade, Henan Institute of Animal Husbandry Economics, Zhengzhou 450046, China; 2. School of Economics and Management, Zhengzhou University of Light Technology, Zhengzhou 450066, China
Abstract The pilot reform of innovative cities aims to activate the elements of urban innovation and improve the efficiency of the allocation of urban innovative resources. Based on the panel data of 269 cities from 2000 to 2019, this paper uses the model of Difference-in-Difference to investigate the impact of innovative city pilot policy on the improvement of urban innovation level. The results show that the pilot policy has a significant positive impact on the level of urban innovation. And after a series of tests on the above conclusions, such as urban innovation level measurement method, model window period and estimation method, the results are still robust.The mechanism test shows that the pilot policy affects the urban innovation level by promoting the spatial agglomeration level of human capital, promoting the innovation level of enterprise subjects and optimizing the direction of urban industrial agglomeration. And it shows obvious differentiation characteristics in the level of economic development, education level and policy orientation. This requires the government to take the innovation driven development strategy as the basic idea when constructing the urban innovation ecosystem, and formulate policies based on the endowment advantages of the pilot cities themselves. It should take multiple measures to improve the accumulation level of human capital, improve the technological innovation ability of enterprises through multiple channels, develop innovative industrial clusters in multiple levels, standardize the establishment of urban innovation systems, and help improve the level of urban innovation.
WANG Xiangxiang,LIU Pu. Whether the Transformation of Urban Development Can Improve the Level of Innovation: Evidence from the National Pilot Project of Innovative Cities. Economic Survey, 2023, 40(2): 034.
2023, Vol. 40 
