Technology business incubators and regional economic convergence in China

ABSTRACT

Previous researches often claim the benefits of technology business incubators (TBIs). There is, however, little systematic evidence of TBIs’ role in promoting local economic growth in China where regions are in different development stages. Furthermore, no study has examined TBIs’ contribution to economic convergence. This paper aims to answer this question, based on panel data of Chinese national technology business incubators and the host cities from 2008 to 2012. The results indicate that there exists economic convergence both nationwide and in the western regions of China and no evidence has been found in the eastern and midland regions. Initial analysis without considering the incubator’s characteristics showed that TBIs do not accelerate economic convergence nationwide. We further take the incubator’s characteristics into consideration. We find that non-state-owned TBIs and specialised TBIs can speed the converging process while state-owned TBIs and diversified TBIs have no influence on the process of regional economic convergence.

KEYWORDS:

• Technology business incubator
• regional economic convergence
• ownership
• specialisation strategy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Jin Hong (1965–), male, Tongling, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Business Administration of the University of Science and Technology of China, research direction: strategy & entrepreneurship.

Min Chen (1993–), female, Hefei, graduate student of a Master’s degree in the Department of Business Administration of the University of Science and Technology of China, research direction: strategy and innovation.

Yunhao Zhu (1987–), male, Xuancheng, Ph.D., in the Department of Business Administration of the University of Science and Technology of China, research direction: strategic management.

Ge Song (1983–), female, Benxi, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Business Administration of the University of Science and Technology of China, research direction: urban and regional economics.

Additional information

Funding

Hybrid Governance and Its Performance Evaluation of Regional Innovation Networks [71172213]; National Natural Science Foundation of China; 2012.01-2015.12. Interactive learning mechanism of inventor network and its impact on innovation performance [71572188]; National Natural Science Foundation of China; 2016.01-2019.12.