IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i3p938-d313563.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Spatial Evolution and Critical Factors of Urban Innovation: Evidence from Shanghai, China

Author

Listed:
  • Lingyue Li

    (Department of Urban Planning, College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China)

  • Xiaohu Zhang

    (Senseable City Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA)

Abstract

The critical role of urban innovation in sustaining urban economic resilience has been widely acknowledged by scholars. Yet there is far from a full spectrum of understanding about how innovation performs, despite China’s innovation outputs having far outweighed most countries’. The perennial concern regarding the spatial patterns of innovation has been biased towards the macroscale, and long-standing efforts to explore the determinants of innovative vitality are focused on internal factors (e.g., research and development activities, and firm size). Considering these inadequacies, this research investigates how innovative activities are spatially distributed and how the pattern evolves in cities at the microscale, and examines influencing factors of the external environment. The patent data from 2000 to 2015 in Shanghai are geocoded and mapped into 1 km 2 hexagon grids to identify local clustering. Gini coefficient is computed to show the high concentration of innovation activities across space. The hot spot analysis based on the Getis–Ord (G i * ) statistic shows that innovation exhibits a strong concentration propensity at the microscale and gradually moves toward a polycentric pattern. However, the extent of concentration decreases over the study period. Firms dictate innovation activities, and individuals and universities also play a role in downtown innovation growth. The regression using random effect model shows heterogeneous effects on different innovation actors. The overall urban innovation output, dominated by firms, is significantly influenced by public budget expenditures and green space areas. The science and technology grant has a positive impact on authorities but not university and research institutes. This research not only contributes to a methodological innovation for measuring and visualizing an innovation pattern but also enriches our understanding of spatial evolution and critical factors of innovation activities in urban China.

Suggested Citation

  • Lingyue Li & Xiaohu Zhang, 2020. "Spatial Evolution and Critical Factors of Urban Innovation: Evidence from Shanghai, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-19, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:3:p:938-:d:313563
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/3/938/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/3/938/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sam Youl Lee & Richard Florida & Zoltan J. Acs, 2008. "Creativity and Entrepreneurship: A Regional Analysis of New Firm Formation," Chapters, in: Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy, chapter 13, pages 171-182, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    2. Peter Wood, 2002. "Knowledge-intensive Services and Urban Innovativeness," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 39(5-6), pages 993-1002, May.
    3. Feldman, Maryann P. & Kogler, Dieter F., 2010. "Stylized Facts in the Geography of Innovation," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 381-410, Elsevier.
    4. Xin Mai & Roger C. K. Chan & Chaoqun Zhan, 2019. "Which Sectors Really Matter for a Resilient Chinese Economy? A Structural Decomposition Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-17, November.
    5. Arne Isaksen & Stig-Erik Jakobsen, 2017. "New path development between innovation systems and individual actors," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(3), pages 355-370, March.
    6. Walter Powell & Kenneth Koput & James Bowie & Laurel Smith-Doerr, 2002. "The Spatial Clustering of Science and Capital: Accounting for Biotech Firm-Venture Capital Relationships," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(3), pages 291-305.
    7. Romijn, Henny & Albaladejo, Manuel, 2002. "Determinants of innovation capability in small electronics and software firms in southeast England," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(7), pages 1053-1067, September.
    8. Richard Shearmur, 2012. "The Geography of Intrametropolitan KIBS Innovation: Distinguishing Agglomeration Economies from Innovation Dynamics," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 49(11), pages 2331-2356, November.
    9. Christian Binz & Bernhard Truffer & Lars Coenen, 2016. "Path Creation as a Process of Resource Alignment and Anchoring: Industry Formation for On-Site Water Recycling in Beijing," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 92(2), pages 172-200, April.
    10. Maryann Feldman & Pierre Desrochers, 2003. "Research Universities and Local Economic Development: Lessons from the History of the Johns Hopkins University," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(1), pages 5-24.
    11. Liu, Feng-chao & Simon, Denis Fred & Sun, Yu-tao & Cao, Cong, 2011. "China's innovation policies: Evolution, institutional structure, and trajectory," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(7), pages 917-931, September.
    12. Zoltan J. Acs & David B. Audretsch, 1989. "Patents' Innovative Activity," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 15(4), pages 373-376, Oct-Dec.
    13. Schiederig, Tim & Tietze, Frank & Herstatt, Cornelius, 2011. "What is green Innovation? A quantitative literature review," Working Papers 63, Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH), Institute for Technology and Innovation Management.
    14. William J. Coffey & Richard G. Shearmur, 2002. "Agglomeration and Dispersion of High-order Service Employment in the Montreal Metropolitan Region, 1981-96," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 39(3), pages 359-378, March.
    15. Ellison, Glenn & Glaeser, Edward L, 1997. "Geographic Concentration in U.S. Manufacturing Industries: A Dartboard Approach," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 105(5), pages 889-927, October.
    16. Nosvelli, Mario & Maggioni, Mario A. & Uberti, Teodora Erika, 2006. "Space Vs. Networks in the Geography of Innovation: A European Analysis," Knowledge, Technology, Human Capital Working Papers 12078, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    17. Bell, Andrew & Jones, Kelvyn, 2015. "Explaining Fixed Effects: Random Effects Modeling of Time-Series Cross-Sectional and Panel Data," Political Science Research and Methods, Cambridge University Press, vol. 3(1), pages 133-153, January.
    18. Combes, Pierre-Philippe & Overman, Henry G., 2004. "The spatial distribution of economic activities in the European Union," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: J. V. Henderson & J. F. Thisse (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 64, pages 2845-2909, Elsevier.
    19. Florence Jaumotte & Nigel Pain, 2005. "An Overview of Public Policies to Support Innovation," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 456, OECD Publishing.
    20. Sebastian Fastenrath & Lars Coenen & Kathryn Davidson, 2019. "Urban Resilience in Action: the Resilient Melbourne Strategy as Transformative Urban Innovation Policy?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-10, January.
    21. Zoltan J. Acs & David B. Audretsch, 1989. "Patents as a Measure of Innovative Activity," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(2), pages 171-180, August.
    22. Mario A. Maggioni & Mario Nosvelli & Teodora Erika Uberti, 2007. "Space versus networks in the geography of innovation: A European analysis," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 86(3), pages 471-493, August.
    23. Zoltan J. Acs & Luc Anselin & Attila Varga, 2008. "Patents and Innovation Counts as Measures of Regional Production of New Knowledge," Chapters, in: Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy, chapter 11, pages 135-151, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    24. Jan G. Lambooy, 2002. "Knowledge and Urban Economic Development: An Evolutionary Perspective," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 39(5-6), pages 1019-1035, May.
    25. AnnaLee Saxenian & Charles Sabel, 2008. "Roepke Lecture in Economic Geography Venture Capital in the “Periphery”: The New Argonauts, Global Search, and Local Institution Building," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 84(4), pages 379-394, October.
    26. Nathan Rosenberg, 2011. "Was Schumpeter a Marxist?," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 20(4), pages 1215-1222, August.
    27. Fornahl, Dirk & Brenner, Thomas, 2009. "Geographic concentration of innovative activities in Germany," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 163-182, September.
    28. Choi, Hyo Shin & Sohn, So Young & Yeom, Ho Jeong, 2018. "Technological composition of US metropolitan statistical areas with high-impact patents," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 72-83.
    29. A P Thirlwall, 2002. "The Mobilization of Savings for Growth and Development in Developing Countries," The IUP Journal of Applied Economics, IUP Publications, vol. 0(1), pages 7-30, November.
    30. Breandán á hUallacháin, 2012. "Inventive Megaregions of the United States: Technological Composition and Location," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 88(2), pages 165-195, April.
    31. Sternberg, Rolf, 2009. "Regional Dimensions of Entrepreneurship," Foundations and Trends(R) in Entrepreneurship, now publishers, vol. 5(4), pages 211-340, May.
    32. Eduardo Goncalves & Eduardo Almeida, 2009. "Innovation and Spatial Knowledge Spillovers: Evidence from Brazilian Patent Data," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(4), pages 513-528.
    33. Ludovic Halbert, 2012. "Collaborative and Collective: Reflexive Coordination and the Dynamics of Open Innovation in the Digital Industry Clusters of the Paris Region," Post-Print hal-00664848, HAL.
    34. Ludovic Halbert, 2012. "Collaborative and Collective: Reflexive Co-ordination and the Dynamics of Open Innovation in the Digital Industry Clusters of the Paris Region," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 49(11), pages 2357-2376, November.
    35. Miquel-Àngel Garcia-López & Ivan Muñiz, 2010. "Employment Decentralisation: Polycentricity or Scatteration? The Case of Barcelona," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 47(14), pages 3035-3056, December.
    36. Richard Florida & Patrick Adler & Charlotta Mellander, 2017. "The city as innovation machine," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(1), pages 86-96, January.
    37. Lim, Up, 2003. "The Spatial Distribution of Innovative Activity in U.S. Metropolitan Areas: Evidence from Patent Data," Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy, Mid-Continent Regional Science Association, vol. 33(2), pages 1-30.
    38. Manuel Acosta & Daniel Coronado & M. Dolores Leon & M. Angeles Martinez, 2009. "Production of University Technological Knowledge in European Regions: Evidence from Patent Data," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(9), pages 1167-1181.
    39. Mita Bhattacharya & Harry Bloch, 2004. "Determinants of Innovation," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 155-162, March.
    40. Edward L. Glaeser, 2007. "Entrepreneurship and the City," NBER Working Papers 13551, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    41. Breandán Ó hUallacháin, 2012. "Inventive Megaregions of the United States: Technological Composition and Location," Economic Geography, Clark University, vol. 88(2), pages 165-195, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yu, Liangliang & Cai, Yinying, 2021. "Do rising housing prices restrict urban innovation vitality? Evidence from 288 cities in China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 276-288.
    2. Jing-Xiao Zhang & Jia-Wei Cheng & Simon Patrick Philbin & Pablo Ballesteros-Perez & Martin Skitmore & Ge Wang, 2023. "Influencing factors of urban innovation and development: a grounded theory analysis," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(3), pages 2079-2104, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Choi, Hyo Shin & Sohn, So Young & Yeom, Ho Jeong, 2018. "Technological composition of US metropolitan statistical areas with high-impact patents," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 72-83.
    2. Ye Seul Choi & Up Lim, 2017. "Contextual Factors Affecting the Innovation Performance of Manufacturing SMEs in Korea: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(7), pages 1-15, July.
    3. Paul J. Maliszewski & Breandán Ó hUallacháin, 2012. "Hierarchy and concentration in the American urban system of technological advance," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 91(4), pages 743-758, November.
    4. Carlino, Gerald & Kerr, William R., 2015. "Agglomeration and Innovation," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 349-404, Elsevier.
    5. Dziallas, Marisa & Blind, Knut, 2019. "Innovation indicators throughout the innovation process: An extensive literature analysis," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 80, pages 3-29.
    6. Quatraro, Francesco & Scandura, Alessandra, 2020. "Regional patterns of unrelated technological diversification: the role of academic inventors," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis LEI & BRICK - Laboratory of Economics of Innovation "Franco Momigliano", Bureau of Research in Innovation, Complexity and Knowledge, Collegio 202001, University of Turin.
    7. Hamidi, Shima & Zandiatashbar, Ahoura & Bonakdar, Ahmad, 2019. "The relationship between regional compactness and regional innovation capacity (RIC): Empirical evidence from a national study," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 394-402.
    8. Li Fang, 2018. "The Dual Effects of Information Technology Clusters: Learning and Selection," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 32(3), pages 195-209, August.
    9. repec:bof:bofrdp:urn:nbn:fi:bof-201512111472 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. repec:zbw:bofrdp:urn:nbn:fi:bof-201512111472 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Mingook Lee & Sungjoo Lee, 2016. "Evaluating Internal Technological Capabilities in Energy Companies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-23, March.
    12. Christ, Julian P., 2010. "Geographic concentration and spatial inequality: Two decades of EPO patenting at the level of European micro regions," Violette Reihe: Schriftenreihe des Promotionsschwerpunkts "Globalisierung und Beschäftigung" 32/2010, University of Hohenheim, Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Evangelisches Studienwerk.
    13. Tamás Sebestyén & Attila Varga, 2013. "Research productivity and the quality of interregional knowledge networks," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 51(1), pages 155-189, August.
    14. Jiwu Wang & Nina Liu & Yichen Ruan, 2020. "Influence Factors of Spatial Distribution of Urban Innovation Activities Based on Ensemble Learning: A Case Study in Hangzhou, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-19, January.
    15. Rosalia Castellano & Gaetano Musella & Gennaro Punzo, 2023. "Does context matter? Exploring the effects of productive structures on the relationship between innovation and workforce skills’ complementarity," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 1991-2011, June.
    16. Carlino, Gerald & Kerr, William R., 2015. "Agglomeration and Innovation," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 349-404, Elsevier.
    17. Stefano Usai, 2011. "The Geography of Inventive Activity in OECD Regions," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(6), pages 711-731.
    18. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2015_027 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Schmiedeberg, Claudia, 2008. "Complementarities of innovation activities: An empirical analysis of the German manufacturing sector," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(9), pages 1492-1503, October.
    20. Motoyama, Yasuyuki & Cao, Cong & Appelbaum, Richard, 2014. "Observing regional divergence of Chinese nanotechnology centers," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 11-21.
    21. Maria Cipollina & Giorgia Giovannetti & Filomena Pietrovito & Alberto F. Pozzolo, 2012. "FDI and Growth: What Cross-country Industry Data Say," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(11), pages 1599-1629, November.
    22. Jörn Block & Christian Fisch & Kenta Ikeuchi & Masatoshi Kato, 2022. "Trademarks as an indicator of regional innovation: evidence from Japanese prefectures," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(2), pages 190-209, February.
    23. Lobo, José & Strumsky, Deborah, 2008. "Metropolitan patenting, inventor agglomeration and social networks: A tale of two effects," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(3), pages 871-884, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:3:p:938-:d:313563. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.