数字经济政策与传统企业跨界数字创新

Abstract

The integration between the real economy and the digital economy is essential for fostering new quality productive forces and advancing the modernization of China's industrial system. Cross-boundary digital innovation by traditional enterprises forms the foundation for the widespread application of digital technologies and the integration of digital and real economies. Moreover, digital economy policies play a vital role in guiding and incentivizing cross-boundary innovation. This study focuses on the role of local governments' policies in incentivizing digital innovation. Using policy text data, patent data, and listed company data, it accurately identifies digital economic policies and listed companies' digital patents. Furthermore, it empirically examines the impact of digital economy policies on cross-boundary digital innovation in traditional enterprises. The empirical results show that digital economy policies significantly promote cross-boundary digital innovation in traditional enterprises, but the effect is largely short-term and does not enhance innovation quality. The mechanism analysis indicates that policies incentivize innovation through direct policy instruments, such as tax incentives and subsidies, and indirectly through knowledge spillovers from digital industries to traditional sectors. However, further analysis shows that policy effects mainly increase the quantity of digital patents rather than enhance the quality, limiting their positive impact on firm productivity and market competitiveness. This suggests that firms may engage in strategic innovation behaviors in response to these policies.