The Impact Of Cultural Openness On Innovation Capability In Cities: Evidence From China Urban Panel Studies

Scientific and technological innovation is the strategic support to improve social productivity and comprehensive national strength.High-quality economic development cannot be separated from innovation.Cities are the main engine of domestic economic growth and the source of innovation.It is very important to put innovation at the center of urban economic development,in order to promote the high-quality development of cities in China.However,the innovation is not evenly distributed among cities,and there are obvious regional differences.Florida's creative capital theory and creative social structure theory point out that under the open cultural environment with the identity of diversity and high tolerance,people with different concepts and ideas can be attracted to these cities develop,so as to promote urban innovation.Regional innovation networks also emphasize an open attitude to knowledge and information.Based on the characteristic of whether urban culture is open or not,this paper studies the influence of urban culture on urban innovation capability.Due to the difficulty of measuring the variable of cultural openness,based on the literature review,the urban cultural openness is measured from two dimensions: urban population diversity and urban connectivity.Based on the panel data of 19 metropolises in China from 2008 to 2016,this paper makes an empirical analysis on the impact of cultural openness on innovation capability in cities.The results show that urban population diversity and urban connectivity both have a significant positive role in promoting urban innovation capability,which shows that urban cultural openness is positively related to urban innovation capability,and open culture can promote urban innovation capability.Open culture has the identity of diversity and inclusiveness,which promotes the innovation ability of individuals,teams and organizations,thus promoting the overall urban innovation capability.The regression results of virtual variable method and replacement sample method show that the causal relationship between urban cultural openness and urban innovation capability is robust.According to the above study,the paper puts forward the policy implications as following.In order to improve the level of urban population diversity,the cities should reduce the access threshold,treat different cultures and new things with an inclusive attitude,accept people from different cultural backgrounds in the city,pay attention to the development of young groups and pay attention to theconstruction of community culture and climate.In order to improve the level of urban connectivity,the cities should actively guide the opening-up and exchange with the research institutions,such as universities,scientific research institutes or think tanks,within the region or the whole country or even the whole world.Lastly,it is of great significance to promote the information exchange between cities and knowledge sharing among cities to improve the level of urban connectivity.By these means,we can build an open urban culture,thus improving the urban innovation capability effectively.