Abstract Digital government development, as a key direction for governmental advancement in the digital economy era, presents a valuable opportunity to enhance regional innovation efficiency. This article delves into the underlying mechanisms through which digital government development influences regional innovation efficiency. Using the “National Pilot Policy of Information-based Public Services” as a quasi-experimental setting, we employed a difference-in-differences approach to identify the net effects, mechanisms, and heterogeneity of digital government development on regional innovation efficiency. The findings reveal that digital government development effectively drives innovation efficiency gains. Mechanism tests indicate that digital-industry clustering and talent aggregation mediate the impact of digital government development on regional innovation efficiency. Heterogeneity analysis demonstrates that this impact exhibits significant regional variation, with eastern areas and cities with higher fiscal self-sufficiency levels experiencing more pronounced effects.
Zhan et al. (2026) studied this question.