Abstract: Cross-regional innovation cooperation is an important way to enhance the scientific and technological innovation capacity of the Yellow River Basin and promote the strategy of western development. By collecting the paper data and patent data of 48 prefecture-level cities (prefectures and leagues) along the Yellow River from 2015 to 2020, this paper constructs cross-regional scientific cooperation networks and technical cooperation networks in the Yellow River Basin, and analyzes the spatio-temporal evolution characteristics of different innovation networks. Then, the QAP model is used to identify the mechanism of how multi-dimensional distance influences the cross-regional scientific and technical knowledge spillover in the Yellow River Basin. The findings are as follows: First, although the cross-regional innovation links in the Yellow River Basin have strengthened, the internal cooperation is still outshone by the cooperation with external cities. Second, the cross-regional innovation network structure of the cities along the Yellow River has evolved from the early “single core” to a “multi-center and multi-level” innovation pattern, and the cross-regional connection has changed from the “single link” dominated by a core city to the “multiple links” that contribute to the joint efforts of multiple cities. Third, geographical and administrative distances are important factors hindering cross-regional science and technology cooperation in the Yellow River Basin, and knowledge complementarity has a positive role in promoting cross-regional science and technology innovation cooperation in the Yellow River Basin. This paper expands the research on the distance effect of cross-regional science and technology innovation cooperation, and plays an important guiding role in promoting ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin.

Key words: the Yellow River Basin, scientific and technological innovation, spatio-temporal evolution, QAP model, multi-dimensional distance