Digital Economy, Technological Innovation and Urban Resilience

Abstract

As an emerging economic form, the digital economy is a crucial force in promoting high-quality economic development, resolving regional development incoherence, and improving the level of urban resilience. In this paper, the urban resilience indicator system is composed of four dimensions: social resilience, economic resilience, infrastructure resilience, and ecological resilience. Meanwhile, the digital economy indicator system is composed of five dimensions: Internet penetration rate, number of Internet-related employees, Internet-related output, number of mobile Internet users, and digital financial inclusion development. The development level was measured using the entropy value method and principal component analysis. On this basis, the impact of the digital economy on the urban resilience of 185 prefecture-level cities in China from 2011 to 2019 was analyzed using a benchmark regression model, spatial econometric model, and mediating effect model. This study shows the following: (1) The development of the digital economy has a positive impact on improving urban resilience. (2) The digital economy affects urban resilience with positive spatial spillover effects, and the temporal heterogeneity and heterogeneity of external openness levels are significant, while the regional heterogeneity is not significant. (3) The digital economy can improve urban resilience through the intermediary role of technological innovation. In the future, we should strengthen digital construction, deeply integrate the relationship between the digital economy, technological innovation, and urban resilience, give full play to the engine role of the digital economy, and further promote the enhancement of sustainable urban development.