Do Industrial Support Policies Help Overcome Innovation Inertia in Traditional Sectors?

Enhancing innovation capability can effectively promote the development of traditional industries. Based on Lewin’s behavioral model theory, this study investigated the relationship between industrial support policies and innovation behavior within traditional industries. Utilizing survey data collected from 152 traditional industrial enterprises in 2024 and employing structural equation modeling, the main findings are as follows: Industrial support policies can effectively alleviate the “innovation inertia” of traditional industries, with all policies being significant at the 1% confidence level. Among them, policies related to industry–university–research cooperation platforms have the most significant impact, with a standardized coefficient of 0.941, followed by fiscal and taxation policies (standardized coefficient: 0.846) and financial policies (standardized coefficient: 0.729). Innovation motivation acts as a mediating mechanism between industrial policies and innovation behavior. Industrial support policies accelerate the conversion of reserve-oriented patent portfolios into practical applications, helping to break through patent barriers and effectively alleviate innovation inertia. Consequently, the government should prioritize improving public services, and policy formulation needs to be oriented towards enhancing innovation efficiency. While ensuring industrial security, it is advisable to moderately increase competition to guide traditional industry market players towards thriving in competitive environments.