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Intercity Innovation Collaboration and Catch‐Up of Laggard Cities

Cui Zhang et al.

Journal of Regional Science2026https://doi.org/10.1111/jors.70047article
AJG 3ABDC A
Weight
0.50

Abstract

Does intercity innovation collaboration contribute to the catch‐up of laggard cities? We study this question in China and show that intercity innovation collaboration helps laggard cities catch up with frontier cities. Core technological capability improvement is an important underlying mechanism. However, the role of intercity innovation collaboration in catching up varies according to the partner chosen. Collaboration with frontier cities is more important for laggard cities to close the gap with the frontier than collaboration with other laggard cities. Furthermore, we show that intercity innovation collaboration widens the gap between laggard cities close to the frontier and those further from the frontier, with important implications for innovation disparities.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/jors.70047

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@article{cui2026,
  title        = {{Intercity Innovation Collaboration and Catch‐Up of Laggard Cities}},
  author       = {Cui Zhang et al.},
  journal      = {Journal of Regional Science},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/jors.70047},
}

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Intercity Innovation Collaboration and Catch‐Up of Laggard Cities

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.