How to Improve the Synergetic Development Capabilities of the Innovation Ecosystems of High-Tech Industries in China: An fsQCA Analysis Based on the TOE Framework

Abstract

This study explores the synergetic development capability of China’s high-tech industry innovation ecosystem and the diversification path necessary to improve it. Based on the four-spiral perspective, the system synergetic development index was constructed, and the composite system collaborative degree model was used to measure the synergetic development capability of the high-tech industry innovation ecosystem across 30 provinces and cities in China from 2012 to 2020. The influencing factor model of improving the system’s synergetic development capability was constructed under the technology–organization–environment (TOE) framework, and a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) method was used to explore the multiple paths available to improve the synergetic development ability of the system. The results show that the four-helix system’s synergetic development capability is poor and needs to be improved. The “technology–organization–environment” conditions cannot be used alone as the necessary conditions for the improvement in the system’s synergetic development capability but need to exert a joint, matching effect through the combination of different factors. In addition, market openness is crucial on the path toward the highly synergetic development of the system. The research results not only provide a theoretical basis for comprehensively improving the system’s synergetic development capability but also provide a practical reference for the differentiation path being revealed. In short, this study has important theoretical and practical significance to promoting the synergetic development and benign evolution of the high-tech industry innovation ecosystem.