Abstract
Urban outputs, from economy to innovation, are known to grow as a power of a city's population. But, since large cities tend to be central in transportation and communication networks, the effects attributed to city size may be confounded with those of intercity connectivity. Here, we map intercity networks for the world's two largest economies (the United States and China) to explore whether a city's position in the networks of communication, human mobility, and scientific collaboration explains variance in a city's patenting activity that is unaccounted for by its population. We find evidence that models incorporating intercity connectivity outperform population-based models and exhibit stronger predictive power for patenting activity, particularly for technologies of more recent vintage (which we expect to be more complex or sophisticated). The effects of intercity connectivity are more robust in China, even after controlling for population, GDP, and education, but not in the United States once adjusted for GDP and education. This divergence suggests distinct urban network dynamics driving innovation in these regions. In China, models with social media and mobility networks explain more heterogeneity in the scaling of innovation, whereas in the United States, scientific collaboration plays a more significant role. These findings support the significance of a city's position within the intercity network in shaping its success in innovative activities.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 102092 |
Pages (from-to) | 1-10 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Computers, Environment and Urban Systems |
Volume | 109 |
Early online date | 1 Mar 2024 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Apr 2024 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2023
Funding
W. acknowledges the research support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 42222110) . S.Z. acknowledges research support from the MIT STL Chair Professor discretionary research fund. C.H. acknolwedges research support from EUROPEAN RESEARCH EXECUTIVE AGENCY (REA) (grant No. 101086712-Learn-Data-HORIZON-WIDERA-2022-TALENTS-01) and the European Light-house of AI for Sustainability (grant No. 101120237-HORIZON-CL4-2022-HUMAN-02, grant ANR-17-EURE-0010 (Investissements d'Avenir program) and ANR-19-P3IA-0004). The funders had no role in the conceptualization, design, data collection, analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Funders | Funder number |
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National Natural Science Foundation of China | 42222110 |
MIT STL Chair Professor discretionary research fund | |
EUROPEAN RESEARCH EXECUTIVE AGENCY (REA) | 101086712-Learn-Data-HORIZON-WIDERA-2022-TALENTS-01 |
European Light-house of AI for Sustainability | 101120237-HORIZON-CL4-2022-HUMAN-02, ANR-17-EURE-0010, ANR-19-P3IA-0004 |
Keywords
- Connectivity
- Innovation
- Intercity networks
- Scaling