Unlocking the role of smart cities in technological innovation: evidence from China

Yunxia Shu, Nanxin Deng, Ao Bie, Yuming Wu and Shuming Bao

Applied Economics, 2024, vol. 56, issue 58, 8273-8287

Abstract: This paper discusses the impact of smart city on technological innovation and the underlying mechanism. Based on county-level panel data in China from 2005 to 2020, we use the ‘smart city’ construction as a quasi-natural experiment to identify its impact on technological innovation. Our findings show that: (1) Smart city construction significantly promotes technological innovation. (2) Smart cities indirectly promote technological innovation through technology resource allocation, industry agglomeration effects, and entrepreneurial spirit. (3) Due to ‘digital divide’, the innovation effects of smart cities are more pronounced in eastern regions and cities with high levels of digital infrastructure and information technology talent endowment. (4) The ‘smart city’ pilots generate spatial spillover effects, which enhance the technological innovation level of neighbouring cities.

Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/00036846.2023.2290585 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:applec:v:56:y:2024:i:58:p:8273-8287

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/RAEC20

DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2023.2290585

Access Statistics for this article

Applied Economics is currently edited by Anita Phillips

More articles in Applied Economics from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().