Narrow Results

This paper aims to develop a method to properly measure the urban green innovation efficiency under environmental regulation, analyze the evolution rules of this efficiency, and make rational policy suggestions. By exploring an indicator system which is suitable for the actual urban development, we divided the urban green innovation process into interrelated sub-processes that are based on an innovation chain, established a slacks-based network DEA model, evaluated the overall efficiency of the urban green innovation system and the efficiency of each stage, and studied the evolution of urban green innovation efficiency. Taking Xi’an City as an example, we analyzed the evolution of urban green innovation efficiency under environmental regulation, with the results showing that the process of urban green innovation can be divided into two stages: technological innovation and technological conversion. Xi’an was at the forefront of green innovation efficiency only in 2006, 2009 and 2017, while making inefficient allocation of scientific resources in all other years. The efficiency of scientific and technological research and development has become a major factor in restricting the green innovation efficiency under environmental regulation in Xi’an. Forging ahead in both technological conversion and scientific innovation efficiency should be the best path of green development and innovation. To achieve the continuous and stable improvement of green innovation efficiency, Xi’an should keep improving its green innovation policy to adapt to the increasing social productive forces, and pay attention to the balance between technological innovation and technological conversion.

This study analyzes the coordination of the digital economy and green innovation efficiency using provincial data from 2011 to 2020 in China. The study chooses the entropy weight method to build an evaluation system for the digital economy. The SBM-DEA is used to calculate the green innovation performance of each province. Moreover, the spatial and temporal differences in the coupling level are analyzed. The results reflect the coordination of China’s digital economy and green innovation efficiency continuously growing during the study period. The regional characteristics show that the eastern region shows more coordination compared to other regions.

This paper uses the three-stage Malmquist index and spatial Durbin model to analyze the spatial spillover effect and the enhancing aggregation of high-tech industries’ effects affecting regional green innovation efficiency and its characteristic features using 30 Chinese provinces and cities’ panel data from 2010 to 2019. It is discovered that: Overall, each province and city’s high-tech sectors’ green innovation efficiency index is rising gradually, but the overall innovation efficiency is not high. The potential for improvement is large. According to the pattern’s distribution, there is a diminishing trend in both the east and the west. Agglomerations of high-tech industries have a geographical impact on the effectiveness of local green innovation. In particular, high-tech industry clusters can encourage the improvement of the region’s green innovation efficiency and also spur improvements in the bordering regions’ efficient green innovation. It is essential to strengthen the regional innovation system, support the growth of the regional high-tech industry, and ensure the efficient distribution of innovation components. The development environment of the high-tech industry must be further optimized.

The Urban Agglomeration of Beibu Gulf was established in 2017 with the strategic positioning of facing ASEAN, serving the “Southwest, Central-south, and South of China”, and being livable and business-friendly. Green innovation is the key to promoting high-quality urban development. It is of great significance to analyze and compare the spatial characteristics of green innovation efficiency and its development differences in the Urban Agglomeration of Beibu Gulf for promoting higher quality development in the Beibu Gulf region. This paper measures the dynamic changes of green innovation efficiency and in the Urban Agglomeration of Beibu Gulf based on the super-efficient SBM-GML model, and uses a variety of convergence methods to examine their convergence characteristics. The research results show that (1) green innovation efficiency displays remarkable regional differences, and the overall trend is fluctuating and declining; (2) green innovation efficiency has prominent convergence characteristics in the Urban Agglomeration of Beibu Gulf, which has passed the tests of σ convergence and β convergence.