A Study On The Impact Of Digital Economy Development On Regional Green Technology Innovation Level

China’s traditional "rough-and-tumble" economic development model has led to rapid economic growth,but also increased waste of resources and environmental pollution.As the world landscape changes and national strategies adjust,China’s economic development is changing from "incremental" to "qualitative",and green technology innovation that balances "green" and "innovation" has become the key to green economic transformation.At this stage,there is an imbalance in regional green technology innovation level,and the factors affecting regional green technology innovation level need to be further explored.As China’s digital strategy advances,the digital economy is driving the emergence of new business models that pave the foundations for China’s green transformation.The development of the digital economy has broken through resource constraints,and when "digital" and "green" are combined,how to enhance regional green technology innovation level has become a new research hotspot.Firstly,starting from the digital economy and considering the utility of government actions,this study explores the impact of the digital economy development on regional green technology innovation level based on sustainable development theory and ecological modernisation theory,as well as conducts endogeneity and robustness tests.Secondly,based on promotion tournament theory,this study analyses the moderating effect of government’s innovation preference.Thirdly,based on attention-based theory,this study explores the moderating effect of government’s environmental attention.Finally,based on regional innovation system theory,this study examines the regional heterogeneity.This study uses 271 Chinese cities as samples with data covering the years from 2011 to 2019 to analyze the impact of the digital economy development on regional green technology innovation level and establish bi-directional fixed effects and empirical tests using Stata software.The results are as follows.Firstly,the digital economy development has a reinforcing effect on regional green technology innovation level and passes the tests of endogeneity and robustness.Secondly,government’s innovation preference has a significant positive moderating effect in the impact of digital economy development on regional green technology innovation level.Thirdly,government’s environmental attention has a significant positive moderating effect in the impact of digital economy development on regional green technology innovation level.Fourthly,a test of heterogeneity by regional location reveals a significantly stronger effect of the digital economy development and regional green technology innovation level in the east of China,with a positive but insignificant coefficient in the mid-west.Finally,the results show that the development of the digital economy to enhance regional green technology innovation level requires the strengthening of intellectual property protection and the creation of a favourable external environment.This study reveals the strengthening effect of the development of the digital economy on regional green technology innovation level,facilitates the scientific governance of the government and provides a theoretical foundation and important reference for exploring new paths to enhance regional green technology innovation level.