Research on regional digital innovation empowering public health emergency management capacity

PURPOSE: Timely and effective response to public health emergencies has become an urgent task for all countries, which is also a major challenge to the public health organizations' emergency management capacity (EMCP). With the rapid development of information and communication technology, regional digital innovation has increasingly become an important means to improve EMCP. In this study, we analyzed the impact mechanism of regional digital innovation on EMCP. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: We adopted the fixed effect model as the basic regression model using the panel data of 31 provinces in China from 2011 to 2021. FINDINGS: The results showed that regional digital innovation can improve EMCP. Moreover, the heterogeneity test results showed that in regions with low population aging, regional digital innovation has a stronger positive effect on EMCP. The positive impact of regional digital innovation on EMCP is significant only in areas with higher levels of education. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: Public organizations should formulate relevant policies and regulations to provide preferential policies, financial support and technical guidance for the transfer and transformation of digital innovation achievements in the area of public health. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: This study applied the theory of innovation ecosystem in the scenario of digital enabling public health emergency management.