Coupling Coordination of Digital Finance and Technological Innovation: History
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Jiayi LI

Technological innovation is the first driving force behind development and the key to achieving high-quality economic development. Innovation activities require financial support, but traditional financial systems constrain the development of innovation. Digital finance can alleviate the financial challenges faced by technological innovation. Studying the coordinated relationship between digital finance and technological innovation can deeply explore the driving role of digital finance in technological innovation, as well as the support of technological innovation in the field of digital finance.

  • digital finance
  • technological innovation
  • coupling coordination

1. Introduction

The traditional economic model that relies on resource endowment is gradually being watered down with the implementation of an innovation-driven strategy. Economic growth fueled by technological innovation is more competitive and sustainable. However, financial issues that stymie the development of technological innovation are common in innovation activities, such as insufficient financial support and information asymmetry caused by the inadequate development of traditional financial markets [1]. As a result, it is critical to improve financial support services to foster technological innovation [2][3].
Digital technology innovation in the financial sector has led to the emergence of digital inclusive finance [4], an emerging financial service model [5] and a key guarantee for the sustainable advancement of technological innovation [6]. It provides new financial services such as mobile payment, credit, insurance, and financing by utilizing the new generation of information digital technology [7], and frees financial businesses from the constraints of “people” and “physical departments”. In order to better match the target customer groups and improve the efficiency of capital allocation [8][9], it also broadens the scope and use-depth of finance, enhances user experience and access to finance [10], and removes barriers that traditional finance faces when supporting innovative activities.
From the standpoint of regional development, the various resource endowments in various regions will result in varying development levels, creating an unbalanced but closely connected spatial pattern. Friedmann [11] used the “core–periphery” theory to explain regional economic development’s spatial relevance. He believes that the different development speeds of different regions will lead to a widening gap and form a spatial pattern, with the faster-developing areas as the core and the slower-developing areas as the periphery. The two types of regions are closely related to each other: the core regions concentrate the important elements needed for development to achieve industrial clusters and have an impact on the peripheral regions through the trickle-down effect; the marginal regions rely on the core regions to make progress. In 1991, Krugman [12] further revealed that the main factor of the “core–periphery theory” is the endogenous comparative advantage of each region: the core region generally has more material and human capital, which drives the development of the peripheral areas via the radiation effect. In terms of the spatial relationship of the coupling coordination between digital finance and technological innovation, building a network in different regions to form a cross-regional collaborative innovation model can reduce potential risks [13], promote the digital flow of financial resources, and stimulate more innovative output [14]. On the one hand, the interaction and coupling of financial institutions and innovation departments within the region can raise the level of digital finance and technological innovation; on the other hand, the spatial connection and spillover effect caused by the movement of elements between regions can further couple and coordinate digital finance and technological innovation.

2. Coupling Coordination of Digital Finance and Technological Innovation

The influence of digital finance on technological innovation

The relationship between digital finance and technological innovation has been a topic of much discussion and research in recent years. The existing literature has theoretically proved that digital finance can promote technological innovation. Digital finance services such as mobile payments can drive innovation by simplifying loan approval, which improves the access of small businesses to credit and drives innovation [15]. Digital construction can assist enterprises in deeply integrating resources to stimulate open innovation [16], and digital finance can guide the flow of social funds to promote the upgrading of high-tech industries, which can provide good technology spillover conditions for technological innovation and improve the level of regional technological innovation [17]. Meanwhile, digital finance can alleviate the financing difficulties of innovative enterprises and provide funds for innovative activities to improve the efficiency of capital allocation, easing the financing constraints of innovative enterprises [18][19]. Lin B et al. [20] also used financing constraints as intermediary variables to conclude that digital finance can promote green innovation by alleviating financing constraints. Some scholars have studied the transmission mechanism of digital finance to technological innovation. For example, Zhao Hongyan et al. [21] empirically studied the significant role of digital finance in promoting collaborative innovation and sorted out the transmission mechanisms of credit scale, social consumption, and industrial upgrading. Jinhui Zhu et al. [22] concluded that the impact mechanisms of digital financial inclusion to promote agricultural enterprises’ technological innovation include enterprise digitization, financing constraints, and market efficiency. Digital finance can also influence technological innovation by promoting residents’ wage income [23], generating income effects [24], improving consumer credit [25], stimulating consumer demand [26][27], and other factors. Furthermore, digital finance can stimulate green technology innovation [28][29]. Guangqin Li [30] examined the direct role and spatial spillover effect of the digital economy in improving the efficiency of industrial green innovation. In addition, Wenrong Pan et al. [31] demonstrated the non-linear relationship between the digital economy and innovation.

The influence of technological innovation on digital finance

There are few relevant documents on the impact of technological innovation on digital finance. Lin Liang and Yan Li [32] concluded the impact of the regional innovation ecosystem on the digital economy, proving the positive spatial spillover effect of regional innovation on the digital economy. Xiaohui Chen et al. [33] analyzed the role of fintech on the digital economy and its internal impact mechanism based on the CRITIC method, believing that fintech can accelerate the development of China’s digital economy by promoting technological innovation.

Coupling coordination

There have been few studies on the interactive coupling relationship between digital finance and technological innovation. Zou Xinyue and Wang Wang [2] used the spatial simultaneous model to empirically study the interaction between digital finance and technological innovation. Most scholars chose to adopt the coupling coordination degree (CCD) model to measure the coupling coordinated development relationship between digital finance and technological innovation; the degree of coupling coordination between digital finance and technological innovation in China was relatively low but increasing steadily, and the distribution characteristics are high in the southeast and low in the northwest [2][34][35]. LV Jianglin [35] studied the coordinated development level of digital inclusive finance and real economy by using the Dagum Gini coefficient, kernel density estimation, and standard deviation ellipse. They also concluded that while the overall level was still low, the eastern region was higher than the midwestern regions, and the regional difference was gradually decreasing. In addition, some scholars used the CCD model to study other coupling coordination relationships: the coupling coordination of digital economy and green technology innovation [36]; technological innovation and green development [37]; tourism development and resource environment carrying capacity [38]; data elements and green development [39]; digitalization and energy storage innovation [40]; and so on.
Scholars generally believe that digital finance plays a positive role in promoting technological innovation. However, research on the relationship between digital finance and technological innovation primarily focuses on the unilateral influence of digital finance on technological innovation, with little research on the impact of technological innovation on digital finance. The relationship between digital finance and technological innovation should be complementary and interdependent, and that studying the coordinated development of the two is beneficial to economic sustainability and the conversion of economic momentum.

This entry is adapted from the peer-reviewed paper 10.3390/su15086354

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