Collaborative Innovation Efficiency and Spatial Correlation of the Advanced Manufacturing Cluster of the Electronic Information Industry in Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle, China

Collaborative innovation is a key driver of high-quality development within inter-regional advanced manufacturing clusters. Using patent data from 2014 to 2023, this study investigated the advanced manufacturing cluster of the electronic information industry in Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle (CC), China, and analyzed its collaborative innovation efficiency and spatial correlation features via an extended triple helix algorithm (THA). The results show that: 1) collaborative innovation accounts for a low proportion of the cluster’s innovation activities, but the proportion increases significantly in 2017 and remains above 3% thereafter; 2) bilateral collaboration dominates, with industry-university (IU) collaboration yielding the largest number of outcomes and industry-research (IR) collaboration achieving the highest efficiency, while industry-university-research (IUR) trilateral collaboration remains underdeveloped; 3) intra-regional collaboration is centered on Chengdu and the central urban area of Chongqing, whereas inter-regional collaboration spans nearly all of China, particularly with Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Urban Agglomeration (BTH), Yangtze River Delta (YRD), and Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA), with BTH accounting for the largest share; 4) there are regional differences: IU collaboration is the most efficient between CC and YRD, IR collaboration within CC, and university-research (UR) collaboration between CC and BTH. Accordingly, the cluster should optimize bilateral collaboration, construct the IUR collaborative system, and target the integration of inter-regional resources to enhance its innovation capacity. This study complements existing research on inter-regional collaborative innovation and provides empirical evidence for optimizing innovation policies for inter-regional advanced manufacturing clusters in China.