Cooperative innovation subnetworks in the Chinese new energy vehicle industry: structure and coordination

The overall synergy of technical-link-based cooperative innovation has the potential to drive industrial competitiveness, yet there is a gap in the knowledge of the cooperative innovation subnetworks based on various key technical links in a modular manufacturing industry. This study scrutinised the structure and coordination of three key technical-link-based subnetworks in the Chinese NEV industry by an empirical analysis based on joint patent data from 2009 to 2019 and a composite coordination measurement model. The findings indicate that the cooperative relationship within the three sub-networks all become closer to the obvious 'core-periphery' structure since 2016, with a downward trend in network density. The coordination of the three subnetworks has gradually changed from an uncoordinated degree to a low-coordinated degree, and the battery technology subnetwork has a generally lower-order degree. Some suggestions for improving the overall coordination are provided. Our study contributes to a better understanding of cooperation network dynamics with a lens of improving the balance in structural properties from technical-link-based subnetworks in a modular manufacturing industry.