数字技术对城市创新能力的影响研究

汤凯　蔡晓培　王海杰

（郑州大学）

摘要：在当前数字经济时代，数字技术作为驱动区域经济高质量发展和创新能力提升的新引擎，理应为推动城市群及群内城市创新发挥重要作用。基于2008—2021年中国19大城市群196个城市的面板数据，本文从创新资源、知识创造、创新绩效、创新环境和创新协同五个方面构建城市群内城市创新能力指标体系，实证检验了数字技术对群内城市创新能力的影响。研究表明，数字技术能够促进城市群内城市创新能力提升，该结论在系列稳健性检验下均成立。机制检验发现，数字技术通过创新资金集聚、产业结构升级和创业活跃度提升促进群内城市创新能力提升。异质性分析发现，数字技术对处于较高发展阶段、小规模、高创新基础设施水平以及多中心城市群内的城市创新能力提升作用更加明显。本文的研究为推动数字技术发展以促进城市群创新能力提升提供了经验证据和政策启示。

关键词：城市群；创新能力；数字技术；创新资金集聚；产业结构升级；创业活跃度

作者简介：汤凯，郑州大学商学院副教授、博士生导师，郑州，450001；蔡晓培，郑州大学商学院博士研究生；王海杰，郑州大学商学院教授、博士生导师。

基金项目：河南省高校哲学社会科学研究重大项目“城市收缩的社会需求抑制效应及应对策略研究”（2026-JCZD-09）

引用格式：汤凯,蔡晓培,王海杰.数字技术对城市创新能力的影响研究[J].经济与管理研究,2026,47(1):83-99.

Impact of Digital Technology on Urban Innovation Capacity

TANG Kai, CAI Xiaopei, WANG Haijie

(Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001)

Abstract: As the primary form of new-type urbanization, urban agglomerations serve as vital platforms supporting China’s economic growth. Currently, digital technology serves as a new engine driving high-quality regional economic development and innovation capacity enhancement, and should consequently play a significant role in advancing innovation within urban agglomerations and their constituent cities. Against this backdrop, it is imperative to explore ways to more effectively leverage the inclusive benefits of digital technology to enhance the innovation capacity of urban agglomerations.

By manually compiling relevant indicators on the innovation capacity of urban agglomerations from the Chinese Social Sciences Citation Index (CSSCI) journal articles and conducting frequency analysis, while drawing on renowned Chinese and international research reports, this paper innovatively constructs an indicator system for the innovation capacity of cities within urban agglomerations. This system encompasses 25 indicators across five dimensions: innovation resources, knowledge creation, innovation performance, innovation environment, and innovation collaboration. Using panel data from 196 cities across 19 major urban agglomerations in China from 2008 to 2021, this paper employs a panel fixed-effects model to empirically examine the impact of digital technology on the innovation capacity of cities within urban agglomerations and the underlying mechanisms.

The main findings are as follows.Benchmark regression indicates that digital technology can enhance the innovation capacity of cities within urban agglomerations, and this conclusion holds under a series of robustness tests. Mechanism tests reveal that digital technology enhances innovation capacity through innovation capital aggregation, industrial structure upgrading, and increased entrepreneurial activity. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that digital technology exerts a more pronounced effect on cities within urban agglomerations characterized by higher development stages, smaller scales, advanced innovation infrastructure, and polycentric structures.

The potential contributions of this paper are threefold. First, by focusing on urban agglomerations, this paper expands research on the relationship between digital technology and innovation capacity. Second, it constructs a more comprehensive, scientific, and comparable indicator system for the innovation capacity of urban agglomerations, providing a reusable framework for subsequent research. Third, it deepens the analysis of the mechanisms by which digital technology affects urban innovation capacity, as well as the heterogeneity across different types of urban agglomerations. This paper enhances understanding of the intrinsic patterns in the impact of digital technology on the innovation capacity of cities within urban agglomerations, providing empirical evidence and policy insights to advance the development of digital technology, integrated urban agglomeration growth, and innovation capacity enhancement in China.

Keywords: urban agglomeration; innovation capacity; digital technology; innovation capital aggregation; industrial structure upgrading; entrepreneurial activity

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