High-speed rail heading for innovation: the impact of HSR on intercity technology transfer

ABSTRACT This study examines the impact of China’s high-speed rail (HSR) network on regional innovation cooperation examining the impact on intercity patent rights transactions in 2016 between 81,510 city-pairs. It shows that (1) China’s intercity technology transfer network assumes a national-scale ‘diamond structure’; (2) China’s HSR network had a robust positive effect on intercity technology transfer; and (3) these impacts are direct and indirect operating through impacts on geographical proximity, industrial proximity, innovative proximity and technology complementarity. These findings broaden our understanding of the association between transport infrastructure and innovation networks in large emerging economies.