Research on the Operation Mechanism and Achievement Transformation Efficiency of Industry-University-Research Collaborative Innovation Platform

Abstract

Against the three-chain integration innovation context, industry-university-research (IUR) collaborative platforms are core carriers for commercializing scientific outputs. China’s platforms expand rapidly but suffer fragmented mechanisms, resource mismatch and low conversion rates. Prior studies only analyze single static mechanisms, ignoring multi-mechanism coupling, staged transformation chains and nonlinear element synergies, leaving obvious theoretical and empirical deficits. This paper builds a “Four-Dimensional Mechanism — Synergistic Coupling — Staged Efficiency” framework based on core theories. Using 2018–2024 provincial panel data from 31 Chinese regions, it adopts chain network DEA, two-way fixed-effect regression, double-threshold model and fsQCA for empirical tests. Results show all four mechanisms boost conversion efficiency, with benefit distribution playing the dominant role; multi-mechanism coupling generates efficiency amplification. Their driving effects rise stepwise constrained by dual thresholds of resource aggregation and policy support, alongside cross-region, cross-industry and cross-tier heterogeneous characteristics. This paper supplements the IUR “mechanism-efficiency” theoretical system and supplies quantitative support for refined platform management and targeted innovation policies.