On the Influence of Borrowing Size on Urban Innovation Ability: A Case Study of the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration

Gu Renxu;Yue Huan;School of Urban and Regional Science, East China Normal University;

borrowing size;;urban innovation;;innovation element;;the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration;;knowledge overflowing;;city size

In the construction of a unified national market, the cross-city flow and borrowing of innovative elements will become an important driving force for the improvement of urban innovation capabilities and the high-quality coordinated development of regional economy. Taking the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration as an example, this paper constructs a measurement system of the borrowing scale of innovation elements from four perspectives: borrowing R&D personnel investment, borrowing R&D capital investment, borrowing R&D institutions, and borrowing innovation achievements, and empirically analyzes the mechanism of borrowing scale on the development of urban innovation capabilities. The study found that: There is the borrowing scale effect of innovation factors among the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomerations; The borrowing of the three elements of R&D institutions, innovation achievements, and R&D personnel investment can promote the improvement of urban innovation output, with the promotion effect of borrowing R&D institutions the strongest, followed by that of borrowing achievements; Urban population size, degree of opening to the outside world, and level of industrial diversification have positive effects on borrowing investment in R&D personnel, R&D institutions, and borrowing innovation achievements, respectively.