Intelligent Manufacturing and Green Innovation Efficiency: Perspective on the Agglomeration Effect

Hong Ji, Xin Zeng and Fengxiu Zhou ()
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Hong Ji: School of Economics and Management, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang 330022, China
Xin Zeng: School of Economics and Management, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang 330022, China
Fengxiu Zhou: School of Economics and Management, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang 330022, China

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 11, 1-27

Abstract: In the context of Industry 4.0, the transformative integration of intelligent digitalization, sustainable practices, and cross-sectoral industrial convergence within manufacturing systems constitutes a strategic imperative for addressing global climate emergencies and accelerating resource scarcity. Using panel data from 279 prefecture-level cities and the multiperiod difference-in-differences (DID) approach, this study investigates the impact of intelligent manufacturing on urban green innovation efficiency and its heterogeneous effects. The results reveal that intelligent manufacturing significantly enhances urban green innovation efficiency through scale agglomeration, economic agglomeration, and talent agglomeration, with robustness confirmed by propensity score matching DID tests and double machine learning. In addition, financial development has a nonlinear moderating effect on this relationship. When financial development surpasses the critical threshold of 3.817, its positive moderating effect becomes significantly enhanced. Heterogeneity analyses demonstrate that the benefits of intelligent manufacturing are more pronounced in the middle and western regions, noncentral cities, and cities with advanced industrial intelligence, robust digital finance ecosystems, or stringent environmental regulations. These findings provide novel insights into the dynamic mechanisms through which intelligent manufacturing fosters green innovation, offering policymakers in developing economies a framework to tailor regional strategies, optimize governance systems, and harness intelligent manufacturing as a catalyst for sustainable, innovation-driven growth.

Keywords: intelligent manufacturing; made in China; green innovation efficiency; agglomeration; financial development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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