Intelligent Manufacturing Pilots and Enterprises Innovation——A Quasi-Natural Experiment Based on the"Intelligent Manufacturing Pilot Demonstration Project"
Intelligent manufacturing is the main direction of the construction of a strong manufacturing country,and intelligent manufac-turing pilot is an important institutional exploration to lead and drive the high-quality development of intelligent manufacturing.Based on the data of A-share listed manufacturing enterprises from 2010 to 2021,this paper uses the quasi-natural experiment of an intelligent manufacturing pilot demonstration project to investigate the effect of the intelligent manufacturing strategy on enterprises innovation and the mechanisms by multiple-time-point difference-in-differences model.Results show that intelligent manufacturing pilots significantly promote enterprises innovation,which remains valid through a variety of robustness tests.The mechanism analysis shows that the intelli-gent manufacturing plots can promote enterprises innovation by increasing R&D investment,upgrading human capital and easing finan-cing constraints.Heterogeneity analyses show that the innovation-driven effects of intelligent manufacturing pilots are differentiated by the characteristics of enterprises,industries and regions,which are more significant for enterprises that are larger,in high-tech industries,and in eastern regions.In the end,it is necessary to expand the scope of pilot demonstration of intelligent manufacturing,adhere to the increase in external financing and internal R&D investment,and adhere to the"two-legged"approach of cultivating and introducing tal-ents,adhere to enterprise-specific policies and implementing differentiated development paths,to better promote the intelligent trans-formation of China's manufacturing enterprises and the implementation of the strategy of a strong manufacturing country.