As a"system innovation hub"of institutional innovation,the China Pilot Free Trade Zone(FTZ)is tasked with promoting regional digital technology innovation.Strengthening digital technology innovation is not only the key to developing new quality productive forces,but also the way to realize the upgrading strategy of the Pilot Free Trade Zone.Utilizing panel data from prefecture-level cities and China's patent data from 2009 to 2021,the paper develops a Difference-in-Differences model based on the construction of the Pilot Free Trade Zone as a quasi-natural experiment to assess the impact of institutional innovation on the agglomeration of digital technology innovation enterprises.The paper finds that the construction of the Pilot Free Trade Zone has significantly promoted the agglomeration effect of digital enterprises in the cities where they are located by about 34.52％.The mechanism test shows the Pilot Free Trade Zone promotes enterprises'motivation for digital innovation,stimulates enterprises'digital technology innovation actions,and then promotes the agglomeration of digital technology innovation enterprises through the mechanism path of facili-tating the flow of factors and optimizing the business environment.The heterogeneity test shows that the promotion effect of the Pilot Free Trade Zone on the agglomeration of digital technology innovation enterprises is more obvious in cities with head digital enterprises,cities with high intellectual property rights protection and the eastern coastal region.Further analysis shows that the construction of the Pilot Free Trade Zone has a significant spatial spillover effect on the agglomeration of digital technology innovation enterprises in neighboring cities;Additionally,the Free Trade Zone,in conjunction with the Belt and Road Initiative,can synergize to further enhance the concentration of such enterprises.The paper's conclusions pro-vide insights and references for accelerating the development of digital technology innovation,implementing the strategy to upgrade pilot free trade zones,and cultivating new quality productive forces.
维普
万方数据
