Knowledge complexity and innovation collaboration in China: Evidence from intra-and inter-city collaborations

Abstract

Knowledge production is widely recognized as a critical source of long-term economic growth. However, the increasing complexity of contemporary knowledge production requires inputs exceeding that of the individual. This knowledge burden is dampened to some degree by collaboration. Yet, there is little empirical evidence on the relationship between complexity and collaboration, especially in China. By using the data of more than 3.0 million Chinese patents from the China National Intellectual Property Administration on 297 prefecture-level cities and above in China during the period from 1985 to 2019, this study explored the spatial and temporal evolution of patent complexity and examined the relationship between knowledge complexity and innovation collaboration in Chinese cities. The empirical analysis revealed that: 1) complexity was increasing and was spatially unevenly distributed during this period with an overall trend of high in the east and low in the west, and high in the south and low in the north; 2) there was a robust positive relationship between complexity and collaboration, suggesting that the increase of complexity can contribute to innovation collaboration; and 3) there was a negative and significant relationship between complexity and inter-city collaboration, indicating that complex knowledge is "stickier" than less complex knowledge, and increasing complexity is associated with local rather than nonlocal collaboration.