Does the Digital Economy Promote Green Technology Innovation? A Perspective from the Synergistic Agglomeration of High-Tech Industry Agglomeration and High-Tech Talent Agglomeration

The influence of the digital economy on green technological innovation is essential for the attainment of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Based on panel data from 30 Chinese provinces between 2011 and 2023, this study establishes a dual fixed-effects model to investigate how the digital economy affects green technological innovation, considering both quantity and quality. It innovatively explores the roles of high-tech industry agglomeration, high-tech talent agglomeration, and their synergistic agglomeration. This study reveals the following: (1) The digital economy has a significant promotional effect on both the quantity and quality of green technological innovation, and this finding has been consistently verified through an array of robustness tests. (2) Mechanism results show that high-tech industry agglomeration, high-tech talent agglomeration, and their synergistic agglomeration all have a “multiplier effect”, but the impact intensity of synergistic agglomeration is less than that of single agglomeration. (3) Further exploration of the threshold effect of synergistic agglomeration shows that, concerning the quantity of green technological innovation, a higher level of synergistic agglomeration corresponds to a stronger promotional effect. In terms of quality, the promotional effect reaches its peak after the degree of synergistic agglomeration crosses the first threshold and weakens after crossing the second threshold. (4) Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the positive impacts of the digital economy on green innovation are more pronounced in Eastern and Central China than in its western regions. Moreover, a lower environmental regulation intensity favors innovation quantity, while a higher intensity promotes quality. Additionally, the facilitative effect is the strongest in regions where greater attention is given by the government to green development. This study offers practical insights for sustainable global development, particularly in the context of developing nations.