Research on the effect of digital economy development level on regional innovation

The digital economy is progressively taking the lead in propelling China's consistent expansion and development. This paper uses panel data from 29 Chinese administrative regions at the province level between 2011 and 2018, using a thorough computation of the digital economy development index to explain how the level of development of the digital economy affects regional innovation behavior. According to the results, first, the digital economy's development level enhances both the quality and the stability of regional innovation. Moreover, the digital economy has a stronger impact on industrial innovation efficiency than on knowledge innovation efficiency. Second, the innovation effect of the digital economy's development level varies across regions. Regional innovation benefits greatly from the digital economy in the east, but not in the central and western regions, where the quality and efficiency of innovation are little affected.