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Determining the innovation efficiency of resource-based cities using a relational network dea model: Evidence from China

2020; Elsevier BV; Volume: 7; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.exis.2020.07.019

2214-7918

Yixin Zhang, Maozhong Cui,

Economic and Technological Innovation

Innovation capacity has become a crucial factor determining the future competitiveness of resource-based cities (RBCs). To realise sustainable development, RBCs need to adopt innovation and a system to initiate the related institutional factors. Traditional methods for evaluating innovation efficiency fail to consider the internal operation processes of the innovation system. In this study, a regional innovation system was deconstructed into two inter-relational chained substages of innovation. This study focuses on a typical resource-based city, Qitaihe, in the Old Northeast Industrial Bases of China. It establishes a non-radial SBM-based superefficiency model to examine technological innovation—of the city's overall efficiency and that of every substage—to better determine the root causes of internal inefficiencies amidst innovation production. The results of this study suggest the following: (1) resources exert an obvious crowding-out effect on innovation, and the technological research and development (R&D) stage is crucial for cities in China to improve innovation efficiency; and (2) to break the 'resource curse', RBCs should focus their measures on boosting the efficiency of R&D personnel. This study offers another perspective on China's experience that might be beneficial for other countries.