Analysis on the Evolution of Innovation Network of Chinese Materia Medica Industry in the Yangtze River Delta from the Perspective of Patent

The high-quality development of the integration of Chinese materia medica industry in the Yangtze River Delta has been risen to the national strategy. As for the problem of collaborative innovation of Chinese materia medica industry in the Yangtze River Delta, the structure and characteristic evolution of the innovation network were analyzed from the perspective of social network with the theory of collaborative innovation. The innovation network was measured from four stages with the data of Chinese materia medica cooperation patent in the Yangtze River Delta from 1987 to 2021. The research found that the scale of the innovation network of Chinese materia medica industry in the Yangtze River Delta has been expanding, and the knowledge exchange capacity was strong while the transfer efficiency was low. Besides, the innovation subject was developing towards diversified cooperation, and the innovation cooperation network was initially established and gradually becoming complication and communitization, among which Nanjing has always played the role of "high importance and coordination". The research is significant to rationally allocate the innovation resources of Chinese materia medica industry in the Yangtze River Delta, strengthen the construction of the innovation network relying on the resource-core cities, and accelerate the high-quality development of the integration of traditional Chinese medicine in the Yangtze River Delta.