Industrial Agglomeration And Regional Innovation

Innovation is the eternal theme in the era of knowledge economy. Many scholars at home and abroad do deep academic research in this issue. Agglomeration is one of the characteristics of innovation activities and also an important driving force for innovation activities. As an innovation-intensive industrial sector, the growth, development and innovation activity of high-tech industry will directly related to the adjustment of China’s industrial structure, the transformation of economic development modes and the construction of innovation nation. At present, countries around the world take expansionary fiscal and monetary policy to stimulate economic growth. These investment plans of economic stimulus packages are focusing on technical innovation and industrial sectors of new energy, new materials and information industry etc. This is why we focus on the agglomeration and regional innovation. Here, regional innovation has two meanings, regional innovation performance and regional innovation system. In this paper, targeting chinese high-tech industries, we analysis the space characteristics of high-tech industry characteristics and the effect of the agglomeration of high-tech industry on innovation activities, as well as the feasibility of construction regional innovation system based on high-tech industry cluster zone.Since reform and opening-up, China’s high-tech industry is developing rapidly. Regional disparities of china’s high-tech industry persist and expand with an agglomeration tendency in the eastern region. As the some time, high-tech industry similarity between regions is severe. These characteristics warn us that even though high-tech industry is the backbone and strategic industry of regional economic development, we shall attach importance to the industry similarity and avoid excessive competition. With the characteristics of higher risk, stronger agglomeration and diverse level, the spatial and temporal distribution of technological innovation must have its own unique performance. Using the relevant statistical data, this paper calculated and analyzed the agglomeration degree of china’s high-tech industrial production activity and innovation activity from 1997 to 2007. The results showed that agglomeration level of high-tech industry is higher than the average agglomeration level of manufacturing industry, spatial agglomeration level of high-tech industry’s innovation activity is more significant than the productive activities, and high-tech industrial agglomeration phenomena are continuously strengthening in general.Referring the general theoretical framework of industrial agglomeration, this paper discusses the causes of spatial agglomeration of high-tech industry’s innovation activates. There are three factors that can explain the phenomenon of innovation agglomeration. First, the comparative advantage based on natural resources is the fundamental conditions for innovation agglomeration. The comparative advantages which innovation requires may not be natural resources, but the entrepreneurs, talent, financial capital represented by venture capital and universities and research institutions which produce a large number of scientific and technological achievements. Second, increasing returns is the essential reason of innovation agglomeration. Internal economies of scale make enterprises grow up by technological innovation, and thus adsorb SMEs and new enterprises. External economies of scale can achieve advantages of market scale expansion, transport cost savings, the labor market sharing and knowledge spillovers. Third, the government promotion is a major thrust of innovation agglomeration. In the developing stage, technological innovation is mainly organized and completed by government and state-owned units. In order to encourage technological innovation activities of enterprises, local governments established high-tech zones and incubators to attract and incubate technological achievements so that a large number of technical innovations would locate together. As the Government forces involved, there are two different models on regional innovation activities, which are government-led innovation and private-driven innovation. Although the two innovation models are different in the aspects of innovation organizer, innovation, innovation spatial circumstance, drive mechanism, innovation level and innovation advantages, government and private promote together innovation activity of high-tech industries.Recently, the issue of specialization and diversification is a hot topic in the research about agglomeration and regional economic development and innovation. Differing from the viewpoint that specialization and diversification are the types of knowledge spillovers, we think the specialization and diversification are the structure characteristics of industrial agglomeration. Specialization may promote regional innovation through the following means:First, it strengthens competition and then promote innovation. Second, it makes enterprise to implement strategies cooperation and cooperative innovation easier. Third, it promotes the formation of standardized production methods and better dissemination of explicit knowledge. Diversity may promote regional innovation through the following means:First, it meets the needs of diverse preferences and provides a good opportunity for new startups; second, it meets the requirements of technical complementarities and provides a good platform for the technical innovation. Third, it creates a good atmosphere and culture for technological innovation. This paper also examines the regional characteristics of China’s high-tech industry specialization and diversification, and verifies the effect of specialization and diversification on regional innovation activities. The results support the Jacob externalities, that diversity promotes regional innovation activities of high-tech industries. Corresponding policy implication is that a variety of industries in high-tech industry cluster would be encouraged. Diverse environment conducive knowledge spillovers and then enhance the level of regional innovation.Regional Innovation System is an organization system which supports and generates innovation and constituted by manufacturers with geographical division and association with each other, research institutions and higher education institutions. Those areas with successful development and active innovation in high-tech industry have a complete and efficient regional innovation system. Therefore, improving the capacity of regional innovation lies on building regional innovation system. Constructing regional innovation system based on high-tech industrial agglomeration area (High-tech Zone) is a policy issue of this paper. Because there are inter-relationship in geography, structure, functions and objectives between industrial clusters and regional innovation system, industrial agglomeration area is a suitable region in constructing RIS, but also an embryonic form of RIS. Therefore, constructing RIS based on high-tech zone is a feasible approach. There is a proposition that China’s government should build some innovation cluster and independent innovation demonstration area by selecting a few of high-tech zones with good condition from national high-tech zones. The introduction of National Independent Innovation Demonstration Area in 2009 makes the idea to be true. With the case of the National Independent Innovation Demonstration Area of Wuhan East Lake High-tech Zone, this paper describes the strategic objectives and functions of the National Independent Innovation Demonstration Area, and proposes a general thinking in constructing RIS based on high-tech zones. That is, first of all, High-tech zone will serve as a RIS spatial circumstance and government should combine the elevation of innovation level in high-tech zone to the construction of RIS. Second, government should guide a variety of innovative elements into high-tech zones and support the development of the main bodies of RIS with policy. Final, we should create a good atmosphere to active innovation in the high-tech zone and promote enterprises, universities and research institutions, intermediaries and government to communicate and then build a stable innovation network.