Exploring the relationship among marine science and technology innovation, marine finance, and marine higher education using a coupling analysis: A case study of China's coastal areas

The issue of marine sustainable development has become a bottleneck that restricts the high-quality development of marine economy. Marine science and technology (S&T) innovation, marine finance, and marine higher education interact and influence each other, and the three have a role in promoting the sustainable development of marine economy. This research analyzed the interaction among marine S&T innovation, marine finance, and marine higher education from the perspective of system coupling and constructed a marine S&T innovation-finance-higher education composite system. Moreover, this research took 11 coastal provinces and cities in China as the research objects, constructed the evaluation index system of marine S&T innovation-finance-higher education composite system, and used the coupling coordination model to study the spatial and temporal characteristics of the coupling coordination level of the marine composite system from 2006 to 2016. Furthermore, this research predicted the coupling coordination level of the marine composite system from 2017 to 2026. The results showed that the degree of interaction among the three subsystems in the marine composite system was strong. The coupling and coordination level of the marine composite system was improved in general, but there were significant differences among provinces and cities. The coordination level of the marine composite system showed an apparent spatial correlation, and the correlation showed an evident trend of enhancement. This study will help relevant departments formulate more effective policies for marine S&T innovation, marine finance, and marine higher education and provide references for decision-making to promote the coordinated development of the three and achieve sustainable development of marine economy.