The Role of Technological Network Structure on Regional Industrial Resilience: Evidence from the Yangtze River Delta in China

Regional economic resilience has become a central topic in economic geography, particularly concerning the dynamics of regional development. A resilient industrial system is crucial for economic stability; thus, enhancing industrial resilience is vital for promoting high-quality regional economic growth. This study utilizes invention patent authorization data and industrial enterprise data from 41 cities in the Yangtze River Delta between 2005 and 2020 to quantitatively assess regional industrial resilience and the technological network structures. Through panel regression analysis, the study explores the mechanisms by which technological network structures influence regional industrial resilience, aiming to provide new insights from a technological network perspective. The findings indicate that industrial resilience in the Yangtze River Delta generally exhibits an upward trend followed by a decline, with significant spatial disparities. Shanghai maintains a relatively high level of industrial resilience. The robustness of technological network has increased over time under both random and targeted node removal scenarios, with Shanghai consistently demonstrating the highest network robustness. Cities such as Nanjing, Hangzhou, Hefei, and Suzhou also show rapid growth. Regression analysis reveals that technological network robustness has a significant positive impact on regional industrial resilience, with the strength of this impact intensifying as the proportion of targeted node removal increases. Moreover, technological related variety negatively affects industrial resilience, whereas unrelated variety has a significant positive effect. However, the influence of technological relatedness is notably weaker than that of network robustness.