Abstract: By introducing the analytical framework for innovation value chain and making use of the data of A share listed companies from 2008 to 2014, this paper tries to analyze the impact of regional knowledge spillover on the independent innovation performance of enterprises with different nature of property rights. Through summarizing the characteristics of regional knowledge spillovers, this paper designs the index of the regional knowledge spillover. Then it adopts the mediating effect model to conduct an empirical analysis. The results show that regional knowledge spillovers can play a significant role in promoting the performance of corporate independent innovation, of which the knowledge spillover effect from the economically developed areas to under-developed areas is mostly significant. When the innovation value chain is divided into two stages, it is found that the positive driving effect on independent innovation from regional knowledge spillovers mainly exist in the period of innovation R&D. However, at the stage of innovation application, due to the influence of such factors as the ability of enterprise operation, etc., the impact of regional knowledge spillover on the performance of corporate independent innovation is not significant. Meanwhile, the non-state-owned enterprises are greatly affected by regional knowledge spillover.

Key words: independent innovation performance; regional knowledge spillovers; innovation value chain; nature of property rights