New energy vehicles (NEVs) can effectively reduce emissions and alleviate global climate problems, and are crucial to global sustainable development. China is the world's largest seller of NEVs, but charging stations have always been a major constraint to the development of NEVs. To clearly characterize the structural characteristics of an innovation association network of NEV charging stations, this study analyzes the structural characteristics of China's innovation association network of NEV charging stations with the patent data since 2007 in the Incopat Global Patent Database from the three perspectives of province, city and patent applicant using method of social network analysis (SNA). The findings show the following: (1) The innovation association network of NEV charging stations has been expanded constantly, with the association strength evidently increasing. (2) The innovation association network of NEV charging stations exhibits a typical core-periphery structure, with the quantity of nodes with high association strength varying little, and the quantity of nodes with low- and medium-association strengths exhibiting an evident increasing trend. (3) The effect of regional central cities is enhanced, with an evident group structure. There has been no information barrier caused by excessive small group formation in the province association network, whereas there are small group development trends in city and patent applicant cooperation networks. In addition, policy recommendations for further expanding technological innovation in charging stations to promote the development of the NEV industry are discussed based on the study results.

To clearly describe the structural characteristics of China’s rare earth innovation network (REIN), this study used data on China’s rare earth patents since 2001 in the Incopat global patent database to analyze the structural characteristics of China’s REIN from 2001 to 2020 at the provincial and municipal levels using social network analysis. The study finds the following: (1) The overall characteristics of the network show that the connectivity and diversification of China’s REIN is increasing. (2) The network spatial pattern analysis shows that the REIN exhibits a radial spatial pattern centered on Beijing at both the provincial and municipal levels. (3) Research on network nodes shows that the network is dense in eastern regions and sparse in western regions, showing distinct characteristics of coastal and resource agglomeration. Not all regions with high levels of economic development play leading roles in the REIN. Small and medium-sized cities with abundant rare earth resources also play important leading roles due to their high levels of rare earth innovation. At the provincial and municipal levels, the REIN consists of four subgroups, among which there is not significant factional diversity. (4) In terms of influencing factors, economic development level, technology absorptive capacity, innovation output level, infrastructure, and market leadership have significant impacts at the provincial and municipal levels. In addition, government leadership, industrial structure, and education level have significant impacts at the municipal level. The study clarified China’s technological accumulation in the field of rare earths and provided practical guidance for the innovative development of China’s rare earth industry.

Since the outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), the Chinese government has taken a number of measures to effectively control the pandemic. By the end of 2021, China achieved a full vaccination rate higher than 85%. The Chinese Plan provides an important model for the global fight against COVID-19. Internet search reflects the public's attention toward and potential demand for a particular thing. Research on the spatiotemporal characteristics of online attention to vaccines can determine the spatiotemporal distribution of vaccine demand in China and provides a basis for global public health policy making. This study analyzes the spatiotemporal characteristics of online attention to vaccines and their influencing factors in 31 provinces/municipalities in mainland China with Baidu Index as the data source by using geographic concentration index, coefficient of variation, GeoDetector, and other methods. The following findings are presented. First, online attention to vaccines showed an overall upward trend in China since 2011, especially after 2016. Significant seasonal differences and an unbalanced monthly distribution were observed. Second, there was an obvious geographical imbalance in online attention to vaccines among the provinces/municipalities, generally exhibiting a spatial pattern of “high in the east and low in the west.” Low aggregation and obvious spatial dispersion among the provinces/municipalities were also observed. The geographic distribution of hot and cold spots of online attention to vaccines has clear boundaries. The hot spots are mainly distributed in the central-eastern provinces and the cold spots are in the western provinces. Third, the spatiotemporal differences in online attention to vaccines are the combined result of socioeconomic level, socio-demographic characteristics, and disease control level.

Achieving green economic growth requires enterprises to develop and promote green products that balance environmental protection, intensive resource utilization, and sustainable development. However, under the externality assumption, the green market is often faced with the challenge of insufficient supply. Based on 2004–2018 panel data covering regional industrial enterprises in 30 provinces in China, this study empirically tests the composite driving mechanism of the effect of an increase in the regional green production capacity, organizational factors, and environmental policies on the green product innovation (GPI) of regional export-oriented industrial enterprises (REIEs). This study finds that the increase in regional green production capacity directly drives an improvement in REIEs’ GPI level, that the regional green technology level and degree of human capital accumulation are indirect driving channels between capacity increases and product innovation, and that environmental regulations and green credit have a positive moderating effect on the influence of increasing green production capacity on GPI. Further threshold regression analysis reveals that increasing green production capacity, foreign direct investment, digitization, and trade openness have an inverted U-shaped promoting effect on GPI and that the proportion of local government expenditure shows a diminishing marginal utility effect on GPI.

The Chinese Plan has provided an important model for the global fight against COVID-19 since its outbreak. The present study describes the structural characteristics of China's COVID-19 patent cooperation network at the province, city, and applicant levels by using social network analysis based on data from the Incopat global patent database since 2020, which helps to clarify the current technology accumulation in this field in China, and provide patent information support for the scientific efforts to fight against COVID-19. The findings are as follows: First, the inter-regional cooperation level in China's COVID-19 patent cooperation network shows a decreasing trend from eastern to central to western regions. At the inter-applicant cooperation level, kinship-based cooperation is the strongest, business-based cooperation has the widest scope, while proximity-based cooperation exists throughout these two main models of cooperation. Second, coastal provinces and cities occupy a core position in the network, and play an important role in utilizing structural holes and bridging. Patent applicants with high centrality are mostly firms. Research institutes and universities mainly play the role of bridges. Third and lastly, there is no large number of cliques at the province and city levels. However, there is a tendency for cliques to develop at the applicant level. Hence, actions are needed to prevent the development of information barriers.