Driving factors of scientific and technological resource mismatch in higher education institutions: evidence from China

As the pivotal agents of scientific and technological (S&T) innovation and primary sources of technology transfer, higher education institutions (HEIs) play a key role in the process of innovation-driven development. Based on the panel data from the 30 provinces in China from 2002 to 2022, the degree of S&T resources mismatch in HEIs is quantitatively assessed, while its influencing factors and spatial effects are systematically examined. The key findings includes: (1) There exists significant differences in resource allocation between regions, with the average of human resource mismatch being 0.067 and capital resource mismatch being − 0.151; (2) The empirical results show that economic development (-0.038), industry-university-research (IUR) cooperation (-0.291) and openness (-0.053) have a significant impact on the resources mismatch in HEIs, and these factors vary with the density of regions and "double first-class" HEIs; (3) The spatial effect analysis indicates that the mismatch of human resources and capital resources is manifested as spatial agglomeration effect and spatial diffusion effect respectively, with the corresponding spatial lag terms being 0.113 and − 0.87 respectively; (4) Policy recommendations emphasize aligning S&T resource optimization with local socioeconomic development, strengthening service systems, and accelerating technological commercialization.