How Does Digital Technology Innovation Affect Manufacturing Industry Agglomeration？

Abstract

This paper takes 270 Chinese cities as the sample, and measures the level of manufacturing industry agglomeration based on the dual perspective of science and technology expenditure level and regional Internet penetration rate. In this paper, a fixed effect model is used to investigate the effect and mechanism of digital technology innovation on manufacturing industry agglomeration. The results show that: (1) digital technology innovation has a significant positive driving effect on manufacturing industry agglomeration, and the conclusion is still valid after the endogenous processing test. (2) Mechanism analysis shows that digital technology innovation promotes industrial agglomeration through dual channels of "innovation element adsorption" and "digital infrastructure empowerment". Specifically, it is reflected in improving the intensity of local government science and technology expenditure, accelerating the diffusion of regional Internet penetration, thereby optimizing the regional innovation ecosystem and reducing the cost of factor space allocation. This paper not only provides theoretical basis for analyzing the spatial reorganization law of manufacturing industry in the era of digital economy. It also provides policy inspiration for local governments to enable the upgrading of traditional industrial clusters through digital technology and build a "technology-industry-space" coordinated development pattern. It is practical to promote manufacturing industry and regional coordinated development strategy.