Science and city: Exploring science's contribution to China's urban technological innovation

Although science plays an ever more vital role in the modern knowledge economy, its influence over regional innovation remains highly uneven across space. Using panel data of 269 Chinese cities from 2000 to 2017, this paper investigates the spatial dynamics between local scientific knowledge and regional technological innovation. Our results reveal that: (1) local scientific knowledge, including applied science and basic science, significantly enhances regional innovation output, with persistent effects diminishing over time. (2) The efficiency of scientific knowledge's transformation varies across city scales: medium and mega cities convert science into innovation more efficiently, while only super cities can turn basic science into highly original breakthrough inventions. (3) Within metropolitan regions, science-intensive cities foster outward knowledge spillover beyond their administrative boundaries thus provide knowledge sources for innovation in much wider areas, whereas industry-specialized cities’ innovation benefits from both local and external scientific inputs. (4) Mechanism analysis highlights that regional absorptive capacity and university-industry collaboration are key channels, while interactions with local innovation ecosystems and supporting environments further facilitate such transformation process. This paper offers rich policy implications for fostering science-led regional development through tailored place-based urban innovation strategies.