Education, Science and Technology, and Talent Integrated Development: Evidence from China

Education, science and technology, and talent are significant factors driving economic growth. Coordinating the integrated development of education, science and technology, and talent is not only an important way to achieve the development of education, technology, and talent themselves, but it is also a crucial path to sustainable development. The research objectives of this paper are to explore the coupling coordination relationship among the three subsystems of education, science and technology, and talent and to investigate their spatiotemporal pattern evolution characteristics. This paper, based on panel data from 30 provinces in China from 2001 to 2022, constructs an evaluation index system for “education–science and technology–talent” (EST) development from three dimensions: education, science and technology, and talent. It comprehensively employs methods such as spatiotemporal pattern evolution, LISA time path, and spatial transitions to evaluate the level of China’s EST. The results indicate the following: (1) During the research period, the level of China’s EST shows a significant upward trend, with the educational subsystem being the most prominent. (2) The level of China’s EST development has a significant spatial differentiation characteristic, generally showing a decreasing trend from the eastern to the central and western regions. (3) In terms of the stability of the spatiotemporal pattern, the spatial pattern of China’s EST development is relatively stable, and there is no significant spatial shift during the research period. This study provides a new method for the evaluation of complex systems and also offers a reference for the economic growth of many developing countries.