Abstract:      In the new round of scientific and technological revolution, intelligent manufacturing has become the main direction for all countries to seize the strategic commanding heights. In 2020, the density of industrial robots in China reached 246 units per 10,000 people, which is nearly twice the global average. At the same time, China′s industrial robot technology is also rapidly developing, accounting for 44% of the global total number of related technology patent applications, surpassing Japan, the United States, and Germany, ranking first in the world. The simultaneous occurrence of the two cannot help but make us think: in the short term, China′s industrial robot technology has shown such a strong momentum, is it related to the huge domestic application market?Therefore, this paper took industrial robots, a typical technology of intelligent manufacturing, as an example.Based on the market application data and invention patent data, this paper verified whether large-scale local markets can stimulate technological innovation at the level of 230 cities, and revealed its impact on regional knowledge structure and evolution path from the perspective of technological relevance and complexity. The research conclusions are as follows: (1) The large-scale industrial robot application market in China has a significant promoting effect on related technological innovation. With the huge application market advantage that cannot be compared, industrial robot technology of China has walked a development process from scratch and from strong. In this process, two typical innovation modes are formed: First, relying on the spillover and penetration of international frontier technologies, the related field gradually evolves to the upgrading of industrial robot technology. Second, based on their own strong application demand for industrial robots, enterprises embark on an endogenous technology jump path. (2) Market-driven technological innovation still follows the dual path dependence of time and space. The market size and technological innovation of industrial robots in China show the characteristics of geographic synergistic agglomeration, and cities with knowledge base of industrial robots are more likely to gain benefits from the local market effect. (3) Unlike the technology led production model of first mover countries, the market-driven innovation model makes China more inclined to form breakthroughs in the field of low complexity industrial robot technology. (4) Compared with industries with mature industrial robot applications, industries with gradually increased follow-up penetration and potential market scale have more obvious marginal utility on urban related technological innovation.How to utilize China′s massive application market to promote technological innovation and development is of great significance for the implementation of the manufacturing power strategy and the acceleration of the formation of a modern industrial system. The research conclusion of this paper has the following policy implications: firstly, the government should consider supporting industrial robot technology innovation from a demand-driven perspective, and focus on areas where the application market is gradually starting and has great potential, in order to form dislocation competition with developed countries. Secondly, by effectively combining market demand with a technological foundation, driven by the market and coordinated by the government, we will build a new type of research and development cooperation institution that spans across regions and entities. Thirdly, we should leverage the advantages of the new national system and increase efforts to tackle the bottleneck technology of industrial robots.

Key words: industrial robot, home market effect, technological innovation, market penetration degree