{"title":"The emergence of Industry 4.0 technologies across Chinese cities: The roles of technological relatedness/cross-relatedness and industrial policy","authors":"Xiaozhen Qin , Eddie Chi-Man Hui , Jianfu Shen","doi":"10.1016/j.apgeog.2024.103455","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Industry 4.0 technologies have emerged as a focal point of regional technological competition in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. However, research on the emergence and determinants of innovation in Industry 4.0 technologies remains limited, especially in developing countries. Using Chinese patent data from 2001 to 2020, this study identifies the emergence of Industry 4.0 technologies across Chinese cities and explores the driving roles of relatedness/cross-relatedness and industrial policy in this process. Our findings indicate that relatedness/cross-relatedness between new technologies and Industry 4.0, Industry 3.0, and other technologies significantly increase the probability of a city developing a new specialization in Industry 4.0 technologies. The positive impact of relatedness within Industry 4.0 technologies indicates a self-reinforcing characteristic in their development. Furthermore, cross-relatedness between Industry 4.0 and Industry 3.0 technologies only promotes the specialization in Industry 4.0 technologies related to Industry 3.0 and benefits cities with a substantial Industry 3.0 foundation. Industrial policy also plays a crucial role, directly fostering specialization in Industry 4.0 technologies and indirectly enhancing the effects of relatedness/cross-relatedness. This study offers valuable policy insights for developing regional strategies to foster innovation in Industry 4.0 technologies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48396,"journal":{"name":"Applied Geography","volume":"173 ","pages":"Article 103455"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0000,"publicationDate":"2024-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Applied Geography","FirstCategoryId":"89","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0143622824002601","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"GEOGRAPHY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Industry 4.0 technologies have emerged as a focal point of regional technological competition in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. However, research on the emergence and determinants of innovation in Industry 4.0 technologies remains limited, especially in developing countries. Using Chinese patent data from 2001 to 2020, this study identifies the emergence of Industry 4.0 technologies across Chinese cities and explores the driving roles of relatedness/cross-relatedness and industrial policy in this process. Our findings indicate that relatedness/cross-relatedness between new technologies and Industry 4.0, Industry 3.0, and other technologies significantly increase the probability of a city developing a new specialization in Industry 4.0 technologies. The positive impact of relatedness within Industry 4.0 technologies indicates a self-reinforcing characteristic in their development. Furthermore, cross-relatedness between Industry 4.0 and Industry 3.0 technologies only promotes the specialization in Industry 4.0 technologies related to Industry 3.0 and benefits cities with a substantial Industry 3.0 foundation. Industrial policy also plays a crucial role, directly fostering specialization in Industry 4.0 technologies and indirectly enhancing the effects of relatedness/cross-relatedness. This study offers valuable policy insights for developing regional strategies to foster innovation in Industry 4.0 technologies.
期刊介绍:
Applied Geography is a journal devoted to the publication of research which utilizes geographic approaches (human, physical, nature-society and GIScience) to resolve human problems that have a spatial dimension. These problems may be related to the assessment, management and allocation of the world physical and/or human resources. The underlying rationale of the journal is that only through a clear understanding of the relevant societal, physical, and coupled natural-humans systems can we resolve such problems. Papers are invited on any theme involving the application of geographical theory and methodology in the resolution of human problems.