Knowledge Spillover and Spatial Innovation Growth: Evidence from China’s Yangtze River Delta

This article explores the relationship between knowledge sources at different levels and corporate innovation from the perspective of urban cluster, with a focus on enterprises. This paper conducted an empirical analysis of 375 listed companies in 27 cities within the Yangtze River Delta urban cluster in China from 2009 to 2019. The findings showed that: (1) Local scientific knowledge spillovers, mediated by industry relevance, positively influence firms’ innovation performance. This study verifies how spatial knowledge is dimensionally reduced from scientific spillovers to industrial technological innovation. (2) Emerging industries acquire relevant scientific knowledge for transformation from a broader regional scope. Regional knowledge creation in the Yangtze River Delta urban cluster has stimulated industrial innovation across various sectors, thereby enhancing the overall innovation capacity and level of the urban cluster. (3) Regional diversity significantly affects the process of transforming knowledge into innovation. This paper supports the existence of a unified spatial innovation network among heterogeneous spatial economic entities and emphasizes the innovation synergy from lower to higher levels within heterogeneous hierarchical innovation networks. Developing urban agglomeration strategies that leverage the resource advantages of industrial clusters and adjust industrial layouts is an important approach to promote innovation and economic growth.