Evaluating China's regional collaboration innovation capability from the innovation actors perspective—An AHP and cluster analytical approach

• We found there are four main actors in regional innovation system of China.
• We use AHP to evaluate innovation and collaboration capabilities in Chinese regions using official governmental data.
• We show that the regional innovation can be divided into five types.
• We found socio-economic characteristics might affect regional economic development.
• Governmental support is critical for the success of innovation.

Scholars began studying regional collaboration in China after the Chinese government proposed to vigorously promote regional collaboration innovation capabilities. However, most previous articles about regional innovation have focused on the input and output of innovation or the economic environment, social environment, and cultural environment. In addition, methodologically articles have tended to emphasize qualitative approached. Previous research also under-emphasize the role of government in China’s experience with regional innovation as well as the networked characteristics of regional innovation systems. This article contributes to existing scholarship by proposing a novel methodological approach that uses the AHP method to analyze the innovation activities of governments, universities, research institutes, and firms, and then uses cluster analysis to analyze the four actors of each region. The paper discusses the findings using this improved analytical approach as well as the implications for future research and policy and decision-making in order to improve the performance of regional innovation systems.