Abstract: The research and development industry is a new sector of the service industry, through studying the industrial relevant effect of R&D, we can systematically understand the technology-economy relation during the process of the R&D input and use. By calculating the industrial relevant coefficient of the R&D industry in the six economically developed provinces in Eastern China, this paper measures and compares the industrial relevant effect of the R&D industry in these provinces. The results indicate that the R&D sector in Beijing and Shanghai has become an important modern service industry to drive the regional economic growth, and a certain capacity has been formed to export R&D products to other regions. The R&D sector in Jiangsu and Guangdong provinces mainly provide services for their own industrial development, there is a stronger interactive ability between the R&D industry and the industrial system in the two provinces. The R&D industry has an obvious restrictive effect on the industrial system in Shandong province, to which attention should be paid so as to accelerate the development. The R&D industry in Zhejiang province lacks a stronger ability to coordinate its development with the industrial system, so the industrial structure should be transformed and upgraded urgently.

Key words: input-output method; R&D industry; industrial relevant effect; regional difference