School of Economics, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
College of Economics and Management, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
PLoS One. 2023 Feb 16;18(2):e0281862. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0281862. eCollection 2023.
Innovation is an important driving force for high-quality regional economic development. In recent years, the Chinese government has actively explored new ways to improve regional innovation level, and the construction of smart cities is regarded as an important measure to implement the innovation-driven development strategy. Based on the panel data of 287 prefecture-level cities in China from 2001 to 2019, this paper examined the impact of smart city construction on regional innovation. The research shows that: (i) The construction of smart city has significantly improved the level of regional innovation; (ii) Investment in science and technology and human capital level are important transmission paths for smart city construction to affect regional innovation; (iii) Compared with the central and western regions, the impact of smart city construction on regional innovation is more obvious in the eastern region. This study deepens the understanding of smart city construction, which has important policy significance for China to accelerate the construction of an innovative country and the healthy development of smart cities, and provides reference for other developing countries to promote smart city construction.
创新是实现高质量区域经济发展的重要动力。近年来，中国政府积极探索提高区域创新水平的新途径，智慧城市建设被视为实施创新驱动发展战略的重要举措。本文基于 2001-2019 年中国 287 个地级市的面板数据，考察了智慧城市建设对区域创新的影响。研究表明：（i）智慧城市建设显著提高了区域创新水平；（ii）科技投入和人力资本水平是智慧城市建设影响区域创新的重要传导路径；（iii）与中西部地区相比，智慧城市建设对东部地区区域创新的影响更为明显。本研究深化了对智慧城市建设的认识，对中国加快建设创新型国家和智慧城市的健康发展具有重要的政策意义，并为其他发展中国家推动智慧城市建设提供了参考。
