Pilot governance and the rise of China's innovation

This paper provides empirical evidence for the significant role of pilot governance for the rise of innovation in China. Using patent data of Chinese cities between 1984 and 2010, the high-tech industrial development zone (HIDZ) pilot governance effect on innovation was examined. The results show that HIDZ pilot governance significantly improved the innovation output of cities. Furthermore, pilot governance was found to promote enterprise-university-research cooperations and attract an increasing number of enterprises to gather in HIDZs, which results in increasing innovation for pilot cities. Moreover, the HIDZ pilot governance conveys spillover effects to neighboring cities. This paper provides evidence to a growing body of theoretical literature, further emphasizing the role of pilot governance for promoting the development of local innovation.