Research on the Economic Effect of Coupling Industrial Synergy Agglomeration and Scientific and Technological Innovation

The urban agglomeration in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River constitutes a critical foundation for the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the rise of central China, as well as a pivotal growth pole for high-quality national development. This study investigates the mechanism through which the coupling of industrial collaborative agglomeration and technological innovation influences economic growth. Drawing on panel data from 28 prefecture-level cities within the urban agglomeration of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River (2010–2019), a coupling coordination degree model is constructed to evaluate the level of coupling coordination. The economic effects of the coupling between industrial collaborative agglomeration and technological innovation are further analyzed using the generalized method of moments (GMM), and the findings are validated through a threshold model. The results reveal the following: (1) Between 2010 and 2019, the coupling coordination degree exhibited a fluctuating upward trend, generally characterized by low coupling and high imbalance, with Wuhan achieving the highest level of coupling coordination. (2) The coupling coordination between industrial collaborative agglomeration and technological innovation exerts a nonlinear “inverted U-shaped” effect on economic growth. (3) Threshold model validation demonstrates that the impact of industrial collaborative agglomeration and technological innovation on economic growth evolves over time, exhibiting a “strong-weak-strong” pattern. When the level of industrial collaborative agglomeration surpasses a specific threshold, firms may encounter diseconomies of scale. Similarly, technological innovation fails to effectively contribute to economic growth within certain threshold intervals of coupling coordination.