An Empirical Study on the Technological Innovation Paths of Advanced Manufacturing Industry Clusters in the Chengdu–Chongqing Twin-City Economic Circle Based on High-Value Patents

Abstract

Collaborative innovation within advanced manufacturing industry clusters in the Chengdu–Chongqing Twin-City Economic Circle is an important measure for Western China to move toward high-quality development, promote coordinated regional progress, and improve the national strategic layout. However, existing research on the technological evolution paths of advanced manufacturing clusters in this region remains relatively scarce. To address this gap, this study constructs a high-value patent citation network using citation data of patents from advanced manufacturing clusters in the Chengdu–Chongqing Twin-City Economic Circle over the past decade, applies the SPC algorithm to identify technological paths, and conducts an empirical analysis of the technological evolution characteristics in key fields. The results show that the technological innovation paths of advanced manufacturing industry clusters in the Chengdu–Chongqing Twin-City Economic Circle tend to evolve from resource scheduling toward intelligent optimization, forming a collaborative innovation pattern centered on resource allocation and task scheduling. Under the background of cross-domain collaboration, technological evolution exhibits multi-path integration and stage-wise bifurcation. Accordingly, the paper proposes policy recommendations such as building intelligent manufacturing collaboration chains, improving technological integration mechanisms, and strengthening industry–academia–research collaboration systems, so as to promote the high-quality development of advanced manufacturing industry clusters in the region.