Research On The Impact Of Industrial Co-agglomeration On Urban Innovation Capability In The Yangtze River Delta

Optimizing the spatial allocation of innovation elements is an important way to improve regional innovation capacity and move towards the forefront of an innovative country.As an inherent requirement and important way to build a modern industrial system,industrial coagglomeration is helpful to realize the two-way linkage and coordinated development of cities in the region,and then become a strong engine to improve the innovation ability of cities.The Yangtze River Delta region is the most active area of China ’s agglomeration development and the most dynamic leading area of innovation and development in China.The Yangtze River Delta has gathered a large number of human resources,laid a solid foundation for industrial co-agglomeration,and gradually formed an industrial circle with Shanghai,Suzhou,Wuxi,Hangzhou,Ningbo and other cities as the core.However,the Yangtze River Delta still faces severe challenges of unbalanced regional development,and there are different degrees of differences in innovation resource endowments and innovation space networks among regions.The coexistence of innovation leading areas and barren areas,the contradiction between the convergence of industrial structure and the low-end of collaborative agglomeration are highlighted,which restricts the high-quality integrated innovation and development of the Yangtze River Delta.This study systematically researched the impact of industrial synergy and agglomeration on urban innovation capabilities,based on the theories of Marx’s division of labor,Xi Jinping’s new era of innovation and development,externality theory and related theories of regional innovation ability,this paper systematically studies the impact of industrial co-agglomeration on urban innovation ability,and reveals the development status and spatial distribution pattern of industrial co-agglomeration and urban innovation ability in the Yangtze River Delta region.Further,using the balanced panel data of 41 cities in the Yangtze River Delta from 2006 to 2020,the dual fixed effect model,threshold model,moderating effect model,spatial Durbin model and other methods are used to systematically explore the impact of industrial co-agglomeration in the Yangtze River Delta on urban innovation ability.The following basic conclusions are drawn:First,during the sample study period,the industrial co-agglomeration in the Yangtze River Delta has significantly improved the urban innovation capacity,which means that the scale economy effect and demonstration effect of the impact of the industrial coagglomeration in the Yangtze River Delta on the urban innovation capacity are greater than the congestion effect and excessive competition effect.The conclusion is still valid after considering the endogeneity problem and robustness tests such as tail-shortening treatment,replacement of explained variables and addition of control variables.Second,the threshold effect test found that the Yangtze River Delta industrial collaborative agglomeration has a nonlinear effect on urban innovation ability based on industrial collaborative agglomeration and urbanization.With the increase of the threshold variable level,the promoting effect of the Yangtze River Delta industry collaborative agglomeration on urban innovation ability shows a marginal decreasing trend.Third,the regulatory effect test found that digital technology plays a positive regulatory role in the process of industrial collaborative agglomeration affecting urban innovation ability.The negative externality of industrial collaborative agglomeration is corrected by the application of digital technology.Fourth,the spatial spillover effect analysis found that the innovation ability of cities in the Yangtze River Delta showed a significant positive correlation in space,with the stronger regions distributed in Shanghai,Suzhou,Wuxi,Ningbo and other places,and most prefecture-level cities in Anhui became innovation barren regions.Based on static spatial Durbin model,industrial collaborative agglomeration not only significantly promotes local innovation ability,but also plays a positive effect on the improvement of neighboring innovation ability.Based on the dynamic spatial Durbin model,compared with the short term,industrial collaborative agglomeration has a more significant promoting effect on urban innovation capability in the long term.Fifth,the heterogeneity test results show that there is regional and industrial heterogeneity in the impact of industrial co-agglomeration on urban innovation capacity in the Yangtze River Delta.This shows that when arranging producer services and manufacturing industries,we should pay attention to the agglomeration mode,industry-level division of labor and regional development reality under different externalities,and formulate industrial policies according to local conditions.Based on the above research conclusions,policy suggestions are put forward as follows:first,optimize the layout of industrial collaborative agglomeration and enhance the momentum of urban innovation and development in the Yangtze River Delta;Second,strengthen the in-depth empowerment of digital technology to avoid the negative impact of industrial collaborative agglomeration;Third,comprehensively assess the advantages and disadvantages of agglomeration to stimulate the positive spillover effect of industrial collaborative agglomeration;Fourth,we will coordinate regional division of labor and cooperation to build a new pattern of integrated,innovative development in the Yangtze River Delta.