Regional differences and drivers of patent transfer-in between Chinese cities: a city absorptive capacity perspective

Patent transfer-in is a crucial approach and source for regions to reduce R&D costs and develop innovative technologies. Referring to patent transfer records from the China National Intellectual Property Administration as the data source, this paper explores the drivers of patent transfer-in in Chinese cities using geographically and temporally weighted regression and geographical detectors. Results show that: (1) from 2013 to 2019, the quantity of urban patent transfer-in increased obviously and distributed heterogeneously. The Gini coefficient remained above 0.7, while the overall difference in patent transfer-in significantly declined. (2) The contribution of each influencing factor showed spatial heterogeneity. Foreign direct investment had a negative impact on the acquisition of patented technologies from other domestic cities in most cities. In addition, most cities within the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region had not benefited from the accumulation of urban human capital for patent transfer-in. (3) Regional economic development and R&D investment gradually became the dominant influencing factors of patent transfer-in at the city level. In 2019, the influencing factors showed relatively-balanced interactions, but the interactions between human capital and industrial scale remained high.