How do R&D agglomeration and economic policy uncertainty affect the innovative performance of Chinese high-tech industry?

Numerous publications have discussed the linkage between R&D investment and innovative performance. However, the linkage between R&D agglomeration and innovative performance in the context of Chinese high-tech industry (HTI) remains unclear. A dynamic spatial autocorrelation model and a panel threshold model are used to examine the effect of R&D agglomeration on the innovative performance of Chinese HTI and evaluate the moderating role and the threshold effect of economic policy uncertainty (EPU). We find that the innovative performance of Chinese HTI has a spatial spillover effect and time inertia. Specifically, both R&D personnel agglomeration and R&D capital agglomeration have positive impacts on the innovative performance of Chinese HTI, and such impacts are positively moderated by EPU. Significantly varied across different interval thresholds of EPU, our study also shows an inverse U-shaped relationship between R&D personnel agglomeration and the innovative performance of Chinese HTI. This differs from the relationship between R&D capital agglomeration and the innovative performance of Chinese HTI, which has a positive U-shaped rather than an inverse U-shaped effect. The research results provide policy recommendations for R&D agglomeration and high-quality development of HTI. © 2022