Research On The Innovation Network Of Chang-Zhu-Tan Urban Agglomeration

Innovation is the primary driving force for development and a key means of economic restructuring.Regional innovation under different spatial scales has always been the focus of economics.Urban agglomeration is an important spatial carrier of regional innovation.The rise of network paradigm endows new connotation to the innovation research of city and urban agglomeration.Chang-Zhu-Tan urban agglomeration is in the middle stage of industrialization,it has the characteristics of the developed eastern regions and the central and western regions.The research on the innovation network of the Chang-Zhu-Tan urban agglomeration can explore the past development and future development trend of the innovation network of the Chang-Zhu-Tan urban agglomeration,summarize the development gap with other regions,and provide reference and suggestions of the innovation linkage and innovation development for the Chang-Zhu-Tan urban agglomeration and the central and western regions.Based on the theory of Regional Innovation and Core Periphery theory,selecting the elements of innovation network of Chang-Zhu-Tan urban agglomeration as the research object,based on the cooperative patent authorization data of Changsha City,Zhuzhou City and Xiangtan City from the year 1985 to 2016 that from the state intellectual property office,by using social network analysis,and the software of Ucinet,Gephi,Arcgis to explore the network structure features,spatial structure features and their evolution of Chang-Zhu-Tan urban agglomeration’s innovative network.Research conclusions shows that:(1)The innovation network of Chang-Zhu-Tan urban agglomeration fails to develop in tandem.The gap between the three cities’ network regulations is expanding,the nodes are mainly distributed in Changsha City.And the Chang-Zhu-Tan urban agglomeration innovation network is still in developing.(2)The development of innovation network of Chang-Zhu-Tan urban agglomeration has a remarkable stage.It had experienced an evolutionary process including germination,netting,development and optimization.The main types of innovative subject in Chang-Zhu-Tan urban agglomeration are mainly enterprises.Innovation partners are mainly located outside the province and within the city.Innovation is concentrated in urban areas.(3)On the local scale,the local network of Chang-Zhu-Tan urban agglomeration has spread to all around with Yuelu County and Yuhua County as the core.With the development of Chang-Zhu-Tan urban agglomeration’ urbanization,the local innovation network of urban agglomeration expands to the fringe area more evenly.On the whole,the local innovation network of Chang-Zhu-Tan urban agglomeration presents the distribution characteristics of dense north and sparse south.And it tends to deviate from the evolution of small-world network.In the four stages,Yuelu County has become the preferred area for intra-group innovation cooperation with the highest cooperation frequency.On the national scale,The evolution of the innovation network of the Chang-Zhu-Tan urban agglomerations has experienced the development process of “external linkages dominated–internal and external linkages are equally important”.The cooperation outside the province has always been the main carrier of spatial cooperation.The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration has played an important role in its development as an important source of external innovation resources.(4)At the national and local levels,universities occupy the main position in the network,while large enterprises begin to play a prominent role in the network.(5)The city in Chang-Zhu-Tan urban agglomerations’ networks have different dynamic mechanisms of development.The innovation network of Changsha City is university-led,The innovation network of Zhuzhou City innovation network is enterprise-led and The innovation network of Xiangtan City is university-led.Aim at problems existing in the innovation network of Chang-Zhu-Tan urban agglomeration,propose corresponding countermeasures:Firstly,improve the dynamic mechanism of Chang-Zhu-Tan urban agglomeration innovation network development and strengthen the innovative links between industry,education and research in urban agglomeration.Secondly,industrial parks and development zones should be rationally used to strengthen the "internal-external" innovation links of urban agglomerations.Thirdly,reinforce support to small-,medium-and micro-sized enterprises and improve their status in the innovation network.