Innovation capacity in urban agglomerations: The role of digital finance

作者：Kai Tang, Xiaopei Cai, Haijie Wang · 发表于：Journal of Innovation & Knowledge · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1016/j.jik.2025.100697 · 被引用次数：22 · 研究领域：Regional Development and Policy、Energy, Environment, Economic Growth、Economic Growth and Productivity

Using panel data of 196 cities in 19 urban agglomerations in China from 2012 to 2021, this study analyzes the impact of digital finance on the innovation capacity of urban agglomerations and the underlying mechanisms. The level of digital finance development is measured using Peking University's Digital Financial Inclusion Index. Meanwhile, by manually sorting the relevant evaluation indicators in CSSCI journal papers, creating frequency statistics, and combining the total and average indices, innovation capacity is measured from five aspects: innovation resources, knowledge creation, innovation performance, innovation environment, and innovation collaboration. The results show that digital finance promotes the innovation capacity of urban agglomerations. This effect is stronger for small-scale, highly marketized, and polycentric urban agglomerations. Mechanism analysis shows that, first, via the agglomeration of innovation capital, digital finance provides financial support for improving the innovation capacity of urban agglomerations. Second, by improving entrepreneurial activity, digital finance promotes the formation of an innovation ecosystem. Third, by enhancing credit resource allocation, digital finance encourages more innovation funds to flow into innovative enterprises and promotes innovation capacity in urban agglomerations. Finally, economic policy uncertainty plays an “inverted N-type,” nonlinear moderating role in the relationship between digital finance and inn...