The Impact Of High-Speed Railway Development Level On Urban Innovation Capacity

The report of the 19th Party Congress points out that innovation is the first driving force leading development and a strategic support for building a modern economic system,and that by 2035,China’s economic strength and scientific and technological strength will have jumped significantly to be among the forefront of innovative countries.However,at present,there are huge differences in innovation levels among different regions in China,and innovation activities are concentrated in big cities.As talents,technology,capital and other factors of production continue to gather in cities,cities have become important carriers of innovation activities,and how to actively play the leading role in innovation in cities has gradually become an important part of innovation-driven economic development transformation and building an innovative country.As a kind of high-efficiency transportation,high-speed railway greatly shortens the time and space distance between cities,reduces the time cost of transportation and business exchange,reduces the obstacle of knowledge flow between cities,promotes the gathering of factors and the integration of cities,and thus enhances the innovation level of small and medium-sized cities along the high-speed railway.The study of the impact of high-speed railway development level on the innovation capacity of cities can help to make a comprehensive evaluation of large-scale high-speed railway construction in China and optimize the implementation initiatives of innovation development strategies.This paper takes 191 prefecture-level cities that have achieved high-speed rail access as of 2016 as the research object,and uses a spatial measurement research method based on the panel data of 191 prefecture-level cities from 2009-2016,regarding the impact of the level of highspeed rail development level on the innovation capacity of cities.Construction of spatial Durbin model,to reflect the development level of high-speed rail in terms of both the breadth of highspeed rail link and the intensity of high-speed rail link.Using the data on the level of urban innovation in the China City and Industry Innovation Power Report 2017 published by the Industrial Development Research Center of Fudan University to portray the urban innovation capacity.It has been studied that the improvement of the development level of high-speed rail can strengthen the exchange of talents and enhance the level of human capital,which in turn enhances the overall innovation atmosphere of the city and makes the breakthrough progress of the city’s innovation capability,thus bringing new ideas for the improvement of innovation initiatives.It is found that the improvement of the development level of high-speed rail can significantly promote the improvement of urban innovation capacity,and has a significant spatial spillover effect.The improvement of transportation level directly highlights the talent flow and knowledge spillover effect,which creates a good atmosphere for urban innovation activities,brings more intensive innovation activities,accelerates technological progress,and thus drives the improvement of urban innovation capacity.Meanwhile,in terms of the breadth and intensity of high-speed rail links,both the breadth and intensity of high-speed rail links have a significant positive effect on the innovation capacity of cities,and the increase in the breadth of high-speed rail links has a more obvious effect on the improvement of the innovation capacity of cities than the increase in the intensity of high-speed rail link.