Regional disparities and driving factors of digital technology innovation among Chinese cities: a perspective based on urban patent data

Regional disparities and driving factors of digital technology innovation among Chinese cities: a perspective based on urban patent data | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Regional disparities and driving factors of digital technology innovation among Chinese cities: a perspective based on urban patent data Yin Tian, Deng Heshun This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8313100/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Revision Version 1 posted 11 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Driven by the current global wave of informatization and digitization, digital technology innovation has emerged as a new engine propelling economic and social development. This paper measures the level of digital technology innovation in 284 prefecture-level cities in China by calculating the number of digital technology patents identified through the International Patent Classification (IPC) matching. It comprehensively employs kernel density analysis and Moran's I method to characterize the spatio-temporal evolution of China's urban digital technology innovation levels. The Dagum Gini coefficient is used to explore regional disparities and their sources in China's urban digital technology innovation levels. Furthermore, a geographical detector is utilized to investigate the driving factors behind these disparities. Results show that: (1) The level of digital technology innovation in China and its four major regions has continued to improve, with significant spatial disparities, but the trend of multi-level differentiation is not evident. (2) Inter-regional disparities are the primary source of overall disparities in digital technology innovation levels, followed by intra-regional disparities and hypervariable density. (3) Factors such as economic development level and fiscal investment in science and technology significantly impact the spatial differentiation of digital technology innovation levels. The combined effect of multiple factors is stronger than that of a single factor, with the level of innovation development and human capital being the most explanatory. Digital technology innovation regional disparity digital patents geographical detector Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Revision Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 03 Jan, 2026 Reviews received at journal 02 Jan, 2026 Reviews received at journal 30 Dec, 2025 Reviews received at journal 28 Dec, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 25 Dec, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 23 Dec, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 22 Dec, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 22 Dec, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 15 Dec, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 13 Dec, 2025 First submitted to journal 08 Dec, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8313100","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":564965958,"identity":"de060251-afcc-48e1-a4bf-946ed9c0b28e","order_by":0,"name":"Yin 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