Study on the Innovation-Driven Effect of Digital Economy on Real Economy—A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis from an R&D Perspective

The rising integration of China’s digital economy with its real economy is propelling the global economy toward a new stage of system reconstruction, profoundly affecting the economic and social development, national governance, and lives of various countries. Formulating and implementing a development strategy for the digital economy is crucial for China. However, there is a lack of research on the innovation-driven relationship between the digital economy and the real economy using authoritative statistics. This paper addresses this gap by adopting Romer’s R&D model and theories from other scholars, thereby constructing an innovation-driven analysis model. Leveraging over 10,000 authoritative statistics and econometric regression, it quantitatively assesses the innovation-driven effect of China’s digital economy on the real economy at both national and regional levels. The study concludes with empirical-based development suggestions to promote the profound integration and innovation within China’s digital and real economies, thereby offering an objective and valuable reference.