Regional Innovation Network Construction and Development on the Basis of Date Envelopment Analysis: Evidence from Guangdong Province, PRC

This paper aims to explore the structure of regional innovation network (RIN) and the effect which network structure may have on enterprisepsilas innovation performance in Guangdong Province, PRC. It studied the basic nodes and the main mutual relationship links and proposed the efficiency evaluation index system based on the network structural analysis. Based on an investigation of 182 provincial-level enterprise technical centers established in Guangdong Province by 2007, the paper present a data envelopment analysis (DEA) framework to measure the innovation efficiency of regional innovation network. By applying the DEA model, it found out that the innovation efficiency of RIN in Guangdong Province is not high, and the lower input and output efficiency is the root cause leading to low efficiency of regional innovation network. RIN is still under the construction phase. The paper concluded with practical suggestions for future construction and development of regional innovation network in Guangdong Province.