Scientific and technological innovation efficiency in Chinese provincial higher education institutions: a three-division network DEA approach

Scientific and technological (S&T) innovation in higher education institutions (HEIs) has become a major driving force behind China's development. The Chinese government has attached great importance to S&T innovation in HEIs, creating the need for efficiency evaluation that can test the effectiveness of S&T policies and provide decision support for S&T innovation. The operational process of S&T innovation in HEIs can be decomposed into three divisions: research and development (R&D), technology transfer (TT), and technical service (TS). Furthermore, the intermediate products produced by the R&D division may be wasted in the TT division. Based on the internal structure and the utilization of intermediate products, this paper proposes a three-division network DEA to explore the efficiencies of S&T innovation in Chinese provincial HEIs. Based on empirical data from 2011 to 2020, the main findings are as follows. (1) The efficiencies of the S&T innovation in HEIs can be improved when the R&D and TT divisions cooperate to avoid wasting intermediate products. (2) The TT division is not only the main source of the overall inefficiency but also the main cause of the efficiency differences among areas. (3) The TT efficiencies of four areas tend to converge to the same steady state.