Research on the Evolutionary Mechanism of University Faculty Engagement in Multi-agent Collaborative Innovation

Multi-agent collaborative innovation catalyses scientific progress and fuels sustainable economic and social development. Its effectiveness depends on close cooperation among university faculty, government, and enterprises. As key knowledge producers, university faculty play a pivotal role in this process. Employing innovation ecosystem theory, this study constructs a multi-agent evolutionary game model involving government, enterprises, and university faculty to explore both their engagement in collaborative innovation and factors shaping their participation. Furthermore, it applies computer simulation as its main approach, complemented by case analysis to validate the results. The study found that: 1. Collaborative innovation remains stable only when the government, enterprises, and university faculty align their strategies. Any deviation by one party can lead to system degradation. 2. Government incentives alone are not sufficient; the evolution of the system hinges on the precision, credibility, and strength of their feedback effects. 3. University faculty’s research behaviour reflects both internal drivers and external influences. Despite favourable policy and trust conditions, individual differences in motivation, ability, and institutional perception can lead to divergent and stable behavioural outcomes. This study applies evolutionary game theory to elucidate the logic of university faculty participation in multi-agent collaborative innovation, provides policy implications to foster their active engagement and advances the understanding of collaborative innovation system.