Exploring the Relationship Between Financial Technology and Patent Transferring Networks: Perspective from Knowledge Spillover and Population Agglomeration

This study examines the role of financial technology (fintech) in shaping patent-transferring innovation networks across 279 cities in China from 2011 to 2023. Using a novel fintech index and panel-corrected standard errors (PCSE), we find that fintech significantly enhances the centrality, depth, and breadth of innovation networks, fostering capital access, inter-regional collaboration, and knowledge diffusion. This paper contributes to the network theory of innovation by integrating fintech as a driver of network evolution, an aspect largely overlooked in existing literature. We also establish a causal link between fintech development and innovation network dynamics. Robustness checks, including two-step GMM and instrumental variables, confirm the findings. Additionally, machine learning and web scraping techniques reveal mechanisms of knowledge spillovers and population agglomeration. The policy implications emphasize the need to improve fintech infrastructure, encourage population mobility, and maintain openness to global markets to promote regional innovation networks. This research offers a new theoretical framework and practical insights for enhancing regional innovation through fintech.