With the panel data of 41 cities in the Yangtze River Delta from 2003 to 2018,this study ex-plored the mechanisms by which Marshallian externalities,Jacobs externalities,and Porter externalities af-fected regional innovation capacity under the role of the government.The results showed that the impact of ag-glomeration externalities on regional innovation capacity presented uncertainties,and there was a threshold ef-fect between agglomeration externalities and regional innovation capacity when the government played a role.Under the influence of the government,agglomeration externalities had a non-linear relationship with regional innovation capacity.Moreover,the non-linear relationship was different among the three different agglomera-tion externalities,and the regulatory role of the government was heterogeneous.Therefore,the modes of differ-ent agglomeration externalities should be considered in the adjustment and standardization of the role position-ing of local governments.Market surveys should be conducted to effectively respond to the needs of various in-dustries.Furthermore,the direction and level of the government role should be dynamically adjusted to avoid insufficient and delayed policy supply as much as possible.