Intelligent manufacturing and green innovation: Quasi-natural evidence from China

Intelligent manufacturing is an important driving force for improving quality and efficiency and promoting green innovation. Based on the data of Chinese listed companies and taking the Chinese intelligent manufacturing pilot demonstration projects as a quasi-natural experiment, this paper constructs a difference-in-differences (DID) model to explore the effect and mechanism of intelligent manufacturing on enterprise green innovation. The results show that intelligent manufacturing has significantly promoted green innovation in China, and this effect is still valid after considering various robustness tests. Heterogeneity analysis shows that in areas with a good green development foundation and poor information infrastructure, the impact is more obvious. In non-state-owned enterprises and mature enterprises, the impact is more obvious. Mechanism analysis indicates that intelligent manufacturing enhances green innovation through cost management effects, efficiency improvement effects, and employment structure optimization effects. The conclusions provide clear policy implications for developing countries to promote intelligent manufacturing practices and green high-quality development.