How technological proximity affect collaborative innovation? An empirical study of China’s Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region

Based on joint-innovation patent data from 2000 to 2016 in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region of China, the purpose of this paper is to analyze how technological proximity affects university–industry collaborative innovation in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region. We adopt a 1:1 matching design to conduct an empirical study. The results show that the effect of technological proximity on the formation of collaborative innovation displays an inverted U-shape, and geographical proximity and institutional proximity play a positive role of forming a tie. Geographical proximity and institutional proximity as a coordination mechanism, have negatively influenced the relationship between technological proximity and the formation of university–industry collaborative innovation. Furthermore, university strength improves the possibility of collaborative innovation. These findings contributed to the understanding of the relationship between technological proximity and collaborative innovation.