How Does Digital Innovation Empower the Development of New Quality Productive Forces? An Empirical Study Based on Double Machine Learning

New quality productive forces (NQPFs) are a key driver for sustainable and high-quality development, where digital innovation (DI) plays a crucial role in promoting the evolution of NQPFs. Based on this, this paper takes 2740 A-share listed companies from 2011 to 2022 as research samples and utilizes double machine learning to explore the impact and transmission mechanisms of DI on NQPFs. The study finds that DI significantly empowers the development of NQPF; mechanism-wise, DI achieves this through industry–university–research cooperation (IURC), increasing market concentration (MC) and enhancing government innovation subsidies (GISs); heterogeneity analysis reveals that the empowering effect of DI on NQPFs is stronger in large cities, small cities, the region northwest of the Hu Line, and the old industrial bases, whereas in megacity behemoths, megacities, regions along the Hu Line and the southeast region, and non-old industrial base enterprises, the effects are relatively smaller. This study provides both theoretical and empirical insights into how DI drives the development of NQPFs and supports sustainable economic growth, offering valuable guidance for future development strategies.