Analysis of the mechanism of ethical governance of science and technology on scientific and technological innovation

Journal of Social Sciences Vol. VIII, no. 2 (2025), pp. 137 - 154 Fascicle Social Science ISSN 2587-3490 Topic Sociology eISSN 2587-3504 Journal of Social Sciences June, 2025, Vol. 8 https://doi.org/10.52326/jss.utm.2025.8(2).11 UDC 174:001.8 ANALYSIS OF THE MECHANISM OF ETHICAL GOVERNANCE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY ON SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION Xiaofei Yang 1, ORCID: 0009-0005-9047-7842, Zuojun Wang 1*, ORCID: 0009-0006-0861-9264, Zile Zhang 2, ORCID: 0009-0000-7173-5483 1 College of State Governance, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China 2 School of Business Administration, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Hubei, 430073, China * Corresponding author: Zuojun Wang, [email protected] Received: 04.28.2025 Accepted: 06.10.2025 Abstract. The uncertainty of the rapid development of science and technology has led to ethical risks that have attracted attention from all parties. As an important guarantee for the effective development of scientific and technological innovation activities, the ethical governance is of key significance to promote research and development innovation and ensuring that science and technology serve the greater good. An important issue in both governmental governance and academic discussions is how ethical governance of science and technology can enhance scientific and technological innovation. Based on the panel data at the prefecture-level cities from 2019 to 2023, the fixed effects model and the mediating effect model are used to test the impact of ethical governance of science and technology on scientific and technological innovation. The results show that ethical governance has a significant positive driving effect on scientific and technological innovation, and at the same time, ethical governance of science and technology promotes the improvement of innovation ability through the construction of legal environment. Accordingly, refining the ethical governance system of science and technology, adapting governance strategies flexibly, and optimizing the legal environment are essential to fostering sustainable scientific and technological innovation within an ethical framework. Keywords: ethical governance of science and technology, scientific and technological innovation, legal environment, empirical analysis. Rezumat. Incertitudinea dezvoltării rapide a științei și tehnologiei a condus la riscuri etice care au atras atenția tuturor părților implicate. Guvernanța etică a științei și tehnologiei este de o importanță cheie pentru promovarea inovației și pentru asigurarea faptului, că știința și tehnologia servesc binelui comun. O problemă importantă atât în discuțiile despre guvernanță guvernamentală, cât și în cele academice este modul în care guvernanța etică a științei și tehnologiei poate îmbunătăți inovația. Pe baza datelor panel din orașe la nivel de prefectură din 2019 până în 2023, modelul efectelor fixe și modelul efectului de mediere sunt utilizate pentru a testa impactul guvernanței etice asupra inovației științifice și tehnologice. Rezultatele arată, că guvernanța etică a științei și tehnologiei are un efect pozitiv semnificativ 138 X. Yang, Z. Wang, Z. Zhang Journal of Social Sciences June, 2025, Vol. 8 și, în același timp, promovează îmbunătățirea capacității de inovare științifică și tehnologică prin construirea unui mediu juridic. În consecință, ajustarea sistemului de guvernanță etică a științei și tehnologiei, adaptarea flexibilă a strategiilor de guvernanță și optimizare a mediului juridic sunt esențiale pentru promovarea inovației științifice și tehnologice durabile într-un cadru etic. Cuvinte cheie: guvernanță etică a științei și tehnologiei; inovație științifică și tehnologică; mediu juridic; analiză empirică. 1. Introduction Scientific and technological innovation is an important internal driving force for economic development and social progress [1]. Moreover, it serves as a key indicator for assessing social competitiveness [2]. Scientific and technological innovation receives significant global attention [3], not only as a driver of economic and social development but also as a means to address pressing challenges, including climate change [4], ecological degradation [5], and public health crises [6]. In the context of globalization, countries have enhanced their international competitiveness by promoting scientific and technological innovation. The government plays a pivotal role in this process [7]. Scientific and technological innovation is a complex and systematic work, which involves the interaction and integration of multiple innovation elements. This process is closely dependent on government support, guidance, and regulation, while simultaneously necessitating enhanced governance capabilities. With the rapid development of science and technology, some fields have entered the innovation pioneer zone. The more advanced and complex the technology, the greater the potential ethical risks [8]. The limited precedents and governance experience of governments in addressing ethical risks in science and technology have hindered effective regulation, exacerbating issues such as trust [9], legal [10], medical [11], and social risks [12]. Strengthening the ethical governance of science and technology has become a critical component in enhancing the scientific and technological innovation system, with a welldeveloped legal framework playing a key role [13]. The government has strengthened the ethical governance of science and technology by establishing a robust legal framework. This includes standardizing key processes such as R&D, application, promotion, and technological transformation. These measures effectively mitigate ethical disputes, foster a favorable environment for innovation, and accelerate research and development progress. Thus, studying the impact of ethical governance on scientific and technological innovation is crucial for refining governance frameworks and fostering sustainable technological advancement. Through the review of the existing literature, the research on ethical governance of science and technology and scientific and technological innovation mainly focuses on the following aspects. The first aspect focuses on analyzing various ethical risks associated with emerging technologies [14,15]. Additionally, countermeasures are proposed based on the principle of 'science and technology for good' [16]. The second aspect emphasizes the primacy of ethics in scientific and technological innovation [17]. It explores the fundamental connotation, practical foundations, and implementation mechanisms of ethical principles [18], while also advocating for responsible innovation [19].Third, both ethical governance in science and technology and scientific and technological innovation require stronger legal frameworks [20,21], necessitating the establishment and refinement of a robust legal system for science and technology. In summary, most existing studies adopt qualitative research or Analysis of the mechanism of ethical governance of science and technology on scientific… 139 Journal of Social Sciences June, 2025, Vol. 8 theoretical deduction, focusing on ethical challenges in scientific and technological innovation. However, quantitative evidence remains scarce on the relationship between ethical governance of science and technology and scientific and technological innovation. Particularly, further research is needed to explore how ethical governance policies influence the process and outcomes of scientific and technological innovation. Building upon the identified research gaps, this paper constructs a theoretical framework and quantifies the abstract concept of 'ethics'. Quantitative methods are employed to examine the impact of ethical governance on scientific and technological innovation, revealing its underlying mechanisms and processes, and clarifying the dynamics and complexity of ethical governance implementation, thereby addressing the limitation of existing research that primarily relies on theoretical exploration. Furthermore, this study provides quantitative evidence to support government decision-makers and assists policymakers in balancing ethical considerations with technological advancements. Moreover, this research promotes adherence to ethical norms among scientific research institutions while fostering technological progress, offering theoretical and practical guidance for strengthening national competitiveness. 2. Theoretical analysis and research hypotheses 2.1 Ethical Governance of Science and Technology and Scientific and Technological Innovation The ethical governance of science and technology establishes reasonable norms and frameworks for innovation, ensuring that scientific and technological activities comply with ethical standards and achieve a balance between innovation and ethics. First, such governance involves sociology, law, ethics, and other disciplines. Interdisciplinary collaboration introduces new perspectives and multidimensional insights for technology developers [22]. This expands developers’ perspectives, stimulates new ideas, encourages broader considerations in technology development, and further enhances the depth and breadth of innovation output. Second, ethical governance prompts governments to introduce policies that regulate technology development [23]. These systems prevent technological innovation from descending into unregulated and ethically problematic situations, ensuring that R&D personnel operate in a stable and well-regulated environment to facilitate continuous technological progress. Meanwhile, ethical governance mitigates moral and legal risks in technological innovation, thereby accelerating innovation. Technological innovation is often accompanied by high risks and uncertainties, particularly when the technology is not yet mature [24]. Such uncertainties may lead to ethical controversies, hinder R&D, and even provoke legal and social opposition, ultimately impeding technological progress. However, ethical governance guidelines clarify rules for innovators, reduce external opposition and internal disagreements, and enable them to focus on technological breakthroughs, thereby facilitating the emergence of ethically compliant technologies. As the capital market pays increasing emphasis on ethical norms [25], the long-term social value of technological innovation has become a key determinant of investment decisions. As a result, innovative projects with a sound ethical foundation are more likely to gain investors' trust and support, thereby securing sufficient R&D resources and enhancing innovation efficiency. A high level of ethical governance ensures that scientific and technological achievements benefit society and fosters public recognition and support for technological innovation. Therefore, ethical governance of science and technology is not merely a regulatory framework for technological 140 X. Yang, Z. Wang, Z. Zhang Journal of Social Sciences June, 2025, Vol. 8 innovation but also a crucial driver of innovation and development. Based on the above analysis, the following hypotheses are proposed: Hypothesis 1: Ethical governance of science and technology has a positive impact on scientific and technological innovation 2.2 The mediating effect of ethical governance of science and technology on the impact of scientific and technological innovation The ethical governance of science and technology aims to curb misconduct and unlawful exploitation in science and technology while fostering technological innovation. The key to enhancing competence in ethical governance of science and technology lies in a wellestablished legal environment [26]. The authority of law serves to regulate scientific and technological innovation and ensure its alignment with societal interests and sustainability goals. The sound legal environment is essential for conducting innovative activities and enhancing innovation efficiency [27]. The legal establishes ethical and legal standards for scientific and technological innovation, ensuring that technology enterprises and researchers adhere to fundamental ethical and legal boundaries. Furthermore, legislation and regulation provide mechanisms to address social risks and ethical dilemmas associated with technological advancements, mitigating potential negative societal impacts. Additionally, a fair legal environment promotes healthy market competition and fosters greater innovation dynamics. The legal is the institutional guarantee for ethical governance of science and technology [28], also clarifies the direction of development for scientific and technological innovation [29], and achieves a balance between ethics and legal, innovation and regulation. This shows that the ethical governance of science and technology realizes the effective restraint and optimization of scientific and technological innovation behavior through the legal. The legal environment establishes stable rules and norms for scientific and technological innovation, enforces mandatory legal constraints [30], protects intellectual property rights, and stimulates technological R&D and innovation [31]. At the same time, it avoids ethical risks, ensures that innovations do not infringe on the rights of others, and follows the rules of lawful use and distribution [32]. A fair legal environment fosters a competitive and orderly market [33]. The healthy market requires market intermediary organizations to act as supervisors, increasing market scrutiny on scientific research, enhancing information transparency, and fostering healthy competition. Such competition encourages scientific research institutions to enhance their technical capabilities and refine product development strategies, ultimately facilitating the emergence of new technologies and products in the market. Legal frameworks and market intermediary organizations jointly establish an ecosystem that ensures ethical compliance, safeguards innovation, upholds market order, and fosters scientific and technological advancement. Based on the above analysis, the following hypothesis is proposed: Hypothesis 2: Ethical governance of science and technology has a positive impact on scientific and technological innovation through the legal environment. 3. Empirical design 3.1 Data Sources and Processing The data in this paper are from the China National Intellectual Property Administration, the National Bureau of Statistics and the China Market Index Database, and all the Analysis of the mechanism of ethical governance of science and technology on scientific… 141 Journal of Social Sciences June, 2025, Vol. 8 observations of the sample variables are collated and calculated by the author. The original data is processed as follows: 1. In order to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the data, the outliers and missing values are eliminated. 2. The average annual growth rate of the data from previous years is used to predict the data of China's marketization index by province from 2020 to 2023. 3. Prefecture-level cities belong to different provincial-level administrative units, and the work arrangement of the government at provincial-level directly affects the corresponding prefecture-level cities. Therefore, the provincial-level and its corresponding prefecture-level administrative units were matched, and then data analysis and empirical research were carried out. 3.2 Variable declaration 3.2.1 Core explanatory variable Ethical governance of government in science and technology (Gstg). This study uses text analysis to measure the level of ethical governance of science and technology. First, the “Guidelines on Strengthening the Governance over Ethics in Science and Technology” was divided into words and the words with a frequency of less than 2 were eliminated. 250 keywords were initially obtained. Then expert opinions were sought, and 28 keywords such as ethics of science and technology, artificial intelligence, public safety, and code of conduct were finally retained after manual review. Second, the frequency of keywords occurrence in the 31 provincial-level government work reports from 2019 to 2023 was extracted. Third, the frequency of keywords in the government work report should be logarithmically processed to measure the level of ethical governance of government in science and technology. 3.2.2 Explained variable Scientific and technological innovation capability (Inno). This study selects the number of patent applications at the prefecture-level cities as an indicator of scientific and technological innovation capability. The number of patent applications directly reflects country or region ability to innovate in science and technology [34]. Moreover, this indicator is easy to quantify and allows for convenient data acquisition, making it a widely used measure in academic research. The study by Bendig et al. [35] demonstrates that the number of inventions is partly representative of scientific and technological innovation capability. Therefore, this study also uses the number of inventions applied for the same year at the prefecture-level cities (Inven) as an alternative measure of technological innovation capability to conduct robustness tests. Patent application data can accurately measure the innovation capability and competitiveness of core technological fields, while the number of inventions applied for the same year reflects the overall scale and activity of scientific and technological innovation. Both indicators provide a comprehensive evaluation of the level of scientific and technological innovation. 3.2.3 Mediating variable Legal environment (law). Drawing on the research methods of scholars Liu and Jiang [36], the development of market intermediary organizations and the legal system environment are used as the measurement index of the legal environment. 142 X. Yang, Z. Wang, Z. Zhang Journal of Social Sciences June, 2025, Vol. 8 3.2.4 Control variables The control variables include the level of economic development (GDP), the state of human resource (human), and the condition of infrastructure (road). Table 1 shows the composition, classification and connotation of specific indicators. Table 1 Variable Selection and Measurement Methods Variables type Variables name Variable symbol Measuring method Data source Explained variable Scientific and technological innovation capabilities Inno The number of patent applications at the prefecture-level cities China National Intellectual Property Administration Core explana variable The level of ethical governance of science and technology Gstg The frequency of the occurrence of keywords related to "ethical governance of science and technology" in the provincial-level government work report was extracted, and the natural logarithm was taken Work report of the provincial -level government Mediating variable Legal environment law An index of the development of market intermediary organizations and the legal system environment China Market Index Database Control variables The level of economic development GDP GDP per capita National Bureau of Statistics The state of human resource human Resident population at th of the year National Bureau of Statistics The condition of infrastructure road Highway mileage National Bureau of Statistics 3.3 Model construction 3.3.1 Benchmark regression model The fixed effects model is constructed in the empirical evidence to investigate the impact of ethical governance of science and technology on scientific and technological innovation. In this model, two types of non-observed effects are generally controlled, namely individual fixed effects and point-in-time fixed effects. The former reflects the influence of background factors on the explained variables that change with individuals but not at any point in time. Analysis of the mechanism of ethical governance of science and technology on scientific… 143 Journal of Social Sciences June, 2025, Vol. 8 The latter represents the effect of background factors on the explained variables that varies at any point in time but does not vary with the individual. Therefore, we construct the panel data econometric model with a double-fixed effect of individual point-in-time effect as the benchmark regression model, as shown in Eq. (1). 𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰 =𝜶𝜶𝟎𝟎+𝜶𝜶𝟏𝟏𝑮𝑮𝐬𝐬𝐬𝐬𝐬𝐬𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰 +𝜶𝜶𝑿𝑿𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰 +𝝁𝝁𝑰𝑰+𝝁𝝁𝑰𝑰+𝜺𝜺𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰 （1） In Eq. (1), 𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖 represents the scientific and technological innovation ability of region i in period t. 𝐺𝐺stg𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖 represents the level of ethical governance of science and technology of region i in period t. 𝑋𝑋𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖 represents a series of control variables. 𝜇𝜇𝑖𝑖 represents individual fixed effects. 𝜇𝜇𝑖𝑖 represents a point-in-time fixed effect. 𝜀𝜀𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖 is a random perturbation term that obeys an independent and identical distribution. 3.3.2 Mediating effect regression model To further explore the specific influencing mechanism between ethical governance of science and technology and scientific and technological innovation, that is, to test whether there is a mediating effect in the legal environment, the following mediating effect model is constructed based on the benchmark regression model: 𝒍𝒍𝑰𝑰𝒍𝒍𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰 =𝜹𝜹𝟎𝟎+𝜹𝜹𝟏𝟏𝑮𝑮𝐬𝐬𝐬𝐬𝐬𝐬𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰 +𝜹𝜹𝑿𝑿𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰 +𝝁𝝁𝑰𝑰+𝝁𝝁𝑰𝑰+𝜺𝜺𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰 （2） 𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰 =𝜷𝜷𝟎𝟎+𝜷𝜷𝟏𝟏𝑮𝑮𝐬𝐬𝐬𝐬𝐬𝐬𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰 +𝜷𝜷𝟐𝟐𝒍𝒍𝑰𝑰𝒍𝒍𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰 +𝜷𝜷𝑿𝑿𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰 +𝝁𝝁𝑰𝑰+𝝁𝝁𝑰𝑰+𝜺𝜺𝑰𝑰𝑰𝑰 （3） Where the 𝑙𝑙𝐼𝐼𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖 represents the mediating variable. 𝛼𝛼1 reflects the total effect of ethical governance of science and technology on scientific and technological innovation, 𝛽𝛽1 reflects the direct effect of ethical governance of science and technology on scientific and technological innovation, 𝛿𝛿1𝛽𝛽2 reflects the magnitude of the mediating effect, and 𝛿𝛿1𝛽𝛽2/𝛼𝛼1 represents the proportion of the mediating effect in the total effect, reflecting the importance of mediating variables in the ethical governance of science and technology to promote scientific and technological innovation. If 𝛼𝛼1,𝛽𝛽1 and 𝛽𝛽2 are all significant, but 𝛽𝛽1 is smaller than 𝛼𝛼1, it indicates that there is a partial mediating effect. If both 𝛼𝛼1 and 𝛽𝛽2 are significant, but 𝛽𝛽1 is not, it indicates a complete mediating effect. 4. Empirical results and analysis 4.1 Descriptive statistics of variables The descriptive statistics of each variable are shown in Table 2. Among them, the maximum value of the core explanatory variable is 6.000, the minimum value is 0.000, and the standard deviation is 1.377, indicating that there are significant differences in the level of ethical governance of science and technology among different provinces. The maximum value of the explained variable is 320.813, the minimum value is 0.001, and the standard deviation is 23.450, which indicated that there are great differences in the performance of scientific and technological innovation in different regions. The descriptive statistical results of the remaining variables are shown in the table, and the data are generally standardized without obvious outliers. Table 2 Descriptive Statistics Variable Numbers Mean StdDev Min Median Max Gstg 1387 1.620 1.377 0.000 1.000 6.000 144 X. Yang, Z. Wang, Z. Zhang Journal of Social Sciences June, 2025, Vol. 8 Continuation Table 2 Inno 1387 9.640 23.450 0.001 2.869 320.813 GDP 1387 6.910 2.173 3.471 6.461 15.049 human 1387 5972.150 3238.825 590.000 5047.000 12706.000 road 1387 16.690 10.751 0.000 16.900 40.540 law 1387 12.840 3.359 0.871 12.552 23.955 Note: Inno - scientific and technological innovation capabilities; Gstg - the level of ethical governance of science and technology; law - legal environment; GDP - the level of economic development; human - the state of human resource; road - the condition of infrastructure; StdDev - standard deviation. Source: Authors’ computation. 4.2 Benchmark regression results and analysis The benchmark regression results are shown in Table 3. Column (1) only added the core explanatory variable, the regression coefficient is 0.203, passed the significance test at the 10% level. Column (2) further adds control variables, and the regression coefficient of the core explanatory variable is 0.275, which is significant at the 5% level. The regression results show that ethical governance of science and technology has a significant positive impact on scientific and technological innovation, and validates the proposed theoretical hypothesis1.The ethical governance of science and technology creates a secure and transparent environment, encouraging enterprises and research institutions to prioritize the legitimacy and ethical implications of technology, thereby fostering the sustainable development of scientific and technological innovation. Furthermore, ethical governance of science and technology enables scientific and technological innovation to anticipate and mitigate potential ethical risks, thereby reducing the likelihood of failure for new technologies and enhancing their market competitiveness. Additionally, it fosters the disclosure and collaboration of scientific and technological achievements, leading to an increase in patent applications for innovative outcomes while ensuring that these results are legally protected and socially recognized. The results of the control variables were basically in line with expectations. The regression coefficient of human capital condition is significantly negative at the 10% level, and the regression coefficient of infrastructure condition is significantly positive at the 1% level, indicating that these two are important influencing factors. The negative impact of human capital on scientific and technological innovation may stem from talent shortages, mismatches, brain drain, and insufficient incentive mechanisms, which constrain the contribution of scientific and technological talents and reduce innovation efficiency[37]. The positive impact of infrastructure conditions underscores their supportive role in scientific and technological activities. Infrastructure, such as roads, provides a more conducive physical and social environment for scientific and technological innovation[38]. It further facilitates resource flow, promotes information exchange, and fosters industrial clusters, thereby reducing logistics costs, enhancing R&D and production efficiency, and accelerating cross-regional scientific and technological cooperation. The insignificance of other control variables may be attributed to measurement biases. However, these variables interact with each other, collectively fostering sustainable economic development and overall societal progress. Analysis of the mechanism of ethical governance of science and technology on scientific… 145 Journal of Social Sciences June, 2025, Vol. 8 Table 3 Benchmark Regression Results Variable (1) (2) Inno Inno Gstg 0.203* 0.275** (1.70) (2.28) GDP -0.703 (-1.63) human -0.001* (-1.65) road 0.142*** (3.63) _cons 9.311*** 15.201*** (40.64) (4.22) City_FE YES YES Year_FE YES YES N 1387 1387 R2 0.970 0.970 Adj. R 2 0.96 0.96 Note: ***, **, and * indicate significance at the 1%, 5%, and 10% levels, respectively. Clustering robust standard errors are reported in parentheses. Inno - Scientific and technological innovation capabilities; Gstg - The level of ethical governance of science and technology; GDP - The level of economic development; human - The state of human resource; road - The condition of infrastructure; _cons - Constant; City FE - City fixed effects; Year FE - Year fixed effects; N - Number of observations; R2 - R-squared; Adj. R2 - Adjusted R-squared. Source: Authors’ computation. 4.3 Endogeneity tests The fixed effects model of the benchmark regression reveals that ethical governance of science and technology significantly promotes scientific and technological innovation. However, endogeneity issues, including proxy variable measurement errors and unobserved omitted variables, may introduce biases in model estimation. Therefore, an instrumental variable approach was employed to mitigate the estimation bias caused by endogeneity in measuring the impact of ethical governance on scientific and technological innovation. The marketization presents ethical dilemmas of science and technology that challenge the governance mechanisms of human society [39]. The higher degree of marketization corresponds to more developed factor market. Developing the factor market promotes the ethical governance of science and technology and mitigates the negative effects of disruptive scientific and technological innovations. The factor market primarily influences resource allocation[40], which in turn affects enterprises’ and research institutions’ access to funding and talent. However, whether breakthroughs in scientific and technological innovation can be achieved depends more on the innovation environment, key actors, and inputs [41], and these factors are not strictly constrained by factor markets. Therefore, the factor market satisfies the correlation and exogeneity requirements for instrumental variables. Following Zhang et al. [42], this study adopts the degree of factor market development (DFM) as an instrumental variable. The results of endogeneity test are shown in Table 4. From the test results, can be seen that after adding the instrumental variable of the degree of factor market development, the improvement of the level of ethical governance of science and technology still significantly improves the ability of scientific and technological innovation. In addition, 152 X. Yang, Z. Wang, Z. Zhang Journal of Social Sciences June, 2025, Vol. 8 Funding: This work was supported by The National Social Science Foundation of China (Grant No.24XGL008); Graduate Research and Innovation Program of Southwest University (Grant No. SWU23002). Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest. References 1. Liang, K.; Wu, P.; Zhang, R. Research on the Evaluation of Regional Scientific and Technological Innovation Capabilities Driven by Big Data. Sustainability 2024, 16(4), 1379. 2. Jie, H.L. 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