Regional Innovation Policy Analysis in China: The cases of Beijing and Shenzhen

Abstract: This thesis makes a study on how regional innovation policies facilitate economic development in different regions of China from 2000 to 2014. To analyze this question, it chooses Beijing and Shenzhen as two case studies and describes regional innovation policies from two perspectives: new path development perspective and smart specialization perspective. Our results find that Beijing as a core region selected path creation to develop economy while Shenzhen as an old industrial region promoted path branching. In addition, both of regions made efforts to develop institutional variety and institutional integration.