THE ALLOCATION OF R&D RESOURCES IN CHINESE UNIVERSITIES BASED ON PRINCIPAL COMPONENT ANALYSIS AND SPATIAL ECONOMETRIC MODELS
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Abstract
In the era of the global knowledge economy, the rational allocation of university R&D resources is crucial for enhancing technological innovation and regional economic development. Based on provincial-level data of Chinese universities from 2019 to 2023, this study constructed a University R&D Input Index (RDI) and Output Index (RDO) using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to evaluate the allocation of research resources and innovation capacity. In addition, spatial econometric models were employed to analyze the spatial distribution characteristics of R&D resources. The findings revealed that universities in eastern China generally exhibit higher RDI and RDO values, while those in western regions tend to have lower indices, indicating significant regional disparities in technological innovation capabilities. Spatial autocorrelation analysis shows that university R&D resources do not exhibit significant spatial agglomeration, with low overall Moran’s I values suggesting limited spatial spillover effects. However, OLS regression results demonstrate a stable and significant positive relationship between RDI and RDO (regression coefficient > 0.92, p < 0.001), indicating that R&D investment remains a key driver of innovation output. The considerable fluctuations in RDI and RDO observed in some provinces reflect the instability of research funding and the cyclical nature of innovation transformation. The study recommends enhancing regional collaborative innovation to optimize the allocation of university R&D resources, promoting the orderly diffusion of technological resources from the more developed eastern regions to the west, and strengthening university-industry-research collaboration to improve the efficiency of research investment. These findings provide theoretical support and empirical evidence for the formulation of higher education research resource allocation and regional innovation policies.
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