A Comparative Study On Gatekeepers Of Cooperative Innovation Networks In Major Urban Agglomerations In China's Telecommunications Field

Innovation is the primary driving force for development and is at the core of the national development.However,the expansion of knowledge and technology has made it difficult to sustain by obtaining innovative resources from within the region alone,thus giving birth to a cooperative innovation model.In fact,organizations in the region also face difficulties in accessing external resources and cooperation.On the one hand organizations feel the urge to cooperate with others in order to acquire knowledge and other competencies in order to make up for deficiencies and enhance their capabilities;on the other hand they often face difficulties in finding partners and often they lack the knowledge base to be able to absorb the required knowledge.This dilemma clearly points to a need for intermediaries who locate within the boundaries of the area and play important roles in external communication and knowledge transfer.Studying the gatekeepers in the cooperative innovation network of urban agglomeration with social network analysis can optimize the internal structure and promote the development of urban agglomerations,in addition increasing the effectiveness of linkages between city groups.Thus,this study has important theoretical and practical significance for the development of urban agglomerations and industries in China.This article takes the cooperation patents of 1985-2017 in the field of telecommunication in China as the data base.Based on theoretical background of collaborative innovation network,this article firstly divide co-innovation networks into urban agglomerations sub-networks and cognitive cooperation sub-networks according to the division of urban agglomerations and the cooperation of telecommunications in China.Besides through the interaction between the two types of sub-networks,the gatekeepers of each urban agglomeration are identified and their contribution to the urban agglomeration is measured.On this basis,this article divides gatekeepers and explore the different patterns between the gatekeepers' structure and contribution of each urban agglomeration.The result shows:(1)There are a certain number of gatekeepers in the major nine urban agglomerations of China,and the gatekeepers of each urban agglomerations have obvious differences in the number and external contact strength.(2)There is a significant difference in the contribution of gatekeepers to their urban agglomerations.A majority of university-gatekeepers in urban agglomerations contribute most.The composition of the top 10% contribution of gatekeepers is relatively simple except for the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomerations.It is enterprises that consist of the top 10% contribution of gatekeepers in the Pearl River Delta urban agglomeration while universities in other urban agglomerations.The top 10% contribution of gatekeepers consist of universities,enterprises,and research institutions in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomerations.(3)Ambidextrous gatekeepers and externally oriented gatekeepers contribute most to the urban agglomerations.However,the patterns of gatekeepers' structure and contribution differ due to the differences in the economic structure,development level,and openness of each urban agglomeration.Ambidextrous gatekeepers contribute the main force in the first group of urban agglomerations represented by Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and Yangtze River Delta.In the Pearl River Delta urban agglomeration which belong to the second group,externally oriented gatekeepers make the largest contribution to the cooperation innovation.In the third group of urban agglomerations,due to the limitation of the development level,the gatekeepers who contribute the most are externally oriented and ambidextrous.