FinTech and New Energy Innovation Based on Technological Uncertainty: Mechanisms and Fiscal Guidance Effects

This study examines how FinTech development affects technological innovation in new energy enterprises, an industry in which rapid technological turnover makes external financing both vital and difficult. Using data on Chinese A-share listed new energy enterprises from 2014 to 2023, we show that city-level FinTech development significantly raises invention patent output and the invention patent share. The results hold under lagged regressors, instrumental variable estimation, propensity score matching, and a range of robustness checks. Mechanism tests indicate that FinTech fosters innovation by easing financing constraints, expanding analyst coverage, and raising corporate risk-taking. Fiscal instruments moderate this relationship in opposite directions: subsidies weaken the innovation effect of FinTech, whereas value added tax and enterprise income tax incentives strengthen it. The effect is larger for small and state-owned enterprises and in regions with underdeveloped traditional finance and low subsidy intensity. The findings clarify how digital finance supports substantive innovation under technological uncertainty and inform the design of coordinated fiscal and financial policies in emerging markets.