ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Marine Affairs and Policy
This article is part of the Research TopicChallenges and Solutions in Forecasting and Decision-Making in Marine Economy and Management, Volume IIView all 16 articles
Managing collaborative innovation in China's marine industry: A multilayer network perspective
Provisionally accepted
- 1Guangdong Ocean University, Zhanjiang, China
- 2College of Economics and Management, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai, China
- 3Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory Zhanjiang, Zhanjiang, China
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Fostering a dynamic innovation ecosystem is a key strategic challenge for China's marine industry, yet organizations and policymakers lack a clear understanding of what types of collaborative structures truly drive performance. This study moves beyond traditional single-layer analyses to construct a comprehensive multilayer network of inter-organizational collaboration, knowledge flows, and technological evolution, using patent data from 2000 to 2024. The research analyzes the structural characteristics and evolution trend of the multilayer network to reveal the longitudinal dynamics of the China's marine industry's collaborative innovation landscape. A negative binomial regression is used to examine the effect of network characteristics on organizational innovation performance. Findings reveal that while both broad and deep partnerships significantly boost innovation, this effect is mediated by knowledge diversity. The positive impact is contingent on the organizational knowledge assets. Organizations with unique knowledge gain more from broad, shallow ties, compared to deep and intensive collaborations. For highly knowledgeable organizations, occupying too many strategic network positions can lead to information overload and diminishing innovation performance. This research provides an evidence-based framework for managers to optimize their R&D collaboration strategies and for policymakers to design more effective innovation policies, ensuring a more robust and dynamic marine innovation ecosystem.
Keywords: Marine industry, innovation performance, Multilayer networks, Co-Evolution, Patent Analysis
Received: 25 Aug 2025; Accepted: 27 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhou, Liao, Zhou, Shao and Mo. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Zefang Liao, lzfsouedu@163.com
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