【亚开行】黑龙江省资源枯竭型城市创新驱动的绿色经济多元化-2024.9_8页_445kb

Summary of Innovation-Driven Green Economic Diversification for Resource-Exhausted Cities in Heilongjiang Province

Core Content

Heilongjiang Province in China, particularly its resource-exhausted cities, faces significant development challenges due to resource depletion and the decline of traditional industries. These cities are characterized by economic underperformance, environmental degradation, and limited innovation capacity. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has conducted a technical assistance (TA) project to address these issues by formulating strategic road maps and policy frameworks aimed at fostering innovation-driven green economic diversification.

The TA project focused on evaluating the innovation capacity of eight resource-exhausted cities in Heilongjiang: Daqing, Daxing'anling, Hegang, Jixi, Qitaihe, Shuangyashan, Wudalianchi, and Yichun. The findings revealed that these cities lag behind the national average in several key areas, including the innovation institutional environment, human capital and research investment, market maturity, knowledge and technology output, and economic output.

To promote sustainable development, the project emphasized the importance of building new comparative advantages or deepening existing ones. It also recommended the development of small city clusters to enhance efficiency and maintain essential services as population decline continues.

Main Points

1. Challenges Faced by Resource-Exhausted Cities

• Economic underperformance: Declining resource-based industries lead to reduced economic output and growth.
• Environmental degradation: High levels of pollution and resource extraction have caused significant ecological damage.
• Weak innovation systems: Limited interorganizational cooperation, insufficient regulatory frameworks, and lack of support for green innovation.
• Demographic decline: Population outflows have worsened the negative trends in China, exacerbating urban shrinkage and economic challenges.

2. Strategic Road Map for Economic Diversification

• New comparative advantages: Cities should explore combinations of internal and external factors to build sustainable economic models.
• Green industrial transformation: Transition from resource extraction to environmentally friendly industries such as carbon capture, green mining, and renewable energy.
• Digitalization: Integration of digital technologies to improve resource use efficiency, energy performance, and environmental monitoring.

3. Key Lessons from Best Practices

• Collaboration with academic institutions: Strengthen partnerships between universities, government, and private sectors to enhance innovation.
• Sustainability culture: Promote eco-friendly technologies and practices to support green economic growth.
• Tailored and coherent policies: Implement policies that are consistent and synergistic to drive innovation and economic transformation effectively.

4. Proposed Policy Framework

• Financing and regulatory support: Financial incentives for R&D, tax preferences, and diversified financing guarantees.
• Governance improvements: Digital transformation of government services, provincial coordination mechanisms, and enhanced policy accessibility.
• Innovation skills development: Establish a provincial skills market, provide social benefits to attract researchers, and develop a skilled workforce through education and training.
• Innovation-supporting systems: Encourage industry-university-research collaborations, create shared innovation platforms, and improve the use of innovation parks and incubation bases.

Key Findings and Recommendations

Innovation Capacity Evaluation

• The TA developed a customized innovation index based on the Global Innovation Index and other frameworks.
• The index identified significant gaps in the cities' innovation capacity, particularly in institutional environment, human capital, market maturity, and knowledge output.

Policy Simulation Outcomes

• Skills policies are crucial for the commercialization of scientific and technological innovations.
• Technology investment has a positive effect on economic development, especially when aligned with previous investment levels.
• Environmental policies have long-term benefits but require prior investment and skilled workforce to be effective.
• Combined policies yield the best results, highlighting the need for a holistic and integrated approach.

Conclusion

The strategic road map and policy framework developed by the ADB TA project aim to transform Heilongjiang's resource-exhausted cities into innovation-led, green economies. This transformation requires a focus on skills development, institutional reform, and the integration of digital technologies. By learning from international and national best practices, these cities can overcome their challenges and build a sustainable and diversified economic model. The development of small city clusters and the promotion of green industries are also essential for long-term resilience and growth.

References

• ADB. 2024. Innovation-Driven Green Economic Diversification for Resource-Exhausted Cities in Heilongjiang Province.
• CEIC Data. Population and employment trends in Heilongjiang.
• Government of the People's Republic of China. 2013. National Plan for Sustainable Development of Resource-Based Cities.
• S. Guo et al. 2019. Urbanization and CO₂ Emissions in Resource-Exhausted Cities.
• Research Group on Development and Strategy of Science and Technology. 2005. Annual Report of Regional Innovation Capacity of China.

Tables

Table 1: Proposed New Comparative Advantages for Resource-Exhausted Cities in Heilongjiang

Table 2: Proposed Policy Framework for Innovation-Led Green Economic Diversification in Heilongjiang

Notes

• The document is part of the ADB Briefs series, published under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 IGO license.
• The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect ADB's official policies.