Abstract:    In the era of digital economy, how to enhance the empowerment of financial services to real economy is an important topic worthy of in-depth investigation. Based on the panel data of 1,804 listed enterprises in 30 provincial-level regions of China from 2011 to 2020, this paper analyzed the micro data of enterprises and the macro data of provinces and cities and applied the spatial Durbin model, mediation effect model and threshold model, to empirically examine the intrinsic and spatial effect mechanisms of digital finance on enterprise technological innovation from the dual dimensions of intrinsic logic and spatial correlation. It was found that: (1) there is an obvious positive spatial correlation in digital finance and enterprise technological innovation; (2) there is a significant direct promotion effect and a negative spatial spillover effect of digital finance on enterprise technological innovation; (3) financing constraints and information constraints are the important conduction mechanisms for digital finance in playing the role of incentives for enterprise technological innovation; and (4) the incentive effect of digital finance on enterprise technological innovation is characterized by the inverted U-shaped nonlinearity of “positive first and then negative”. This study has enriched the literature on the driving factors of enterprise technological innovation and the economic consequences of digital finance, and thus will offer references for how to provide effective financial support for enterprise technological innovation, accelerate the implementation of the innovation-driven development strategy, and boost the high-quality development of the economy.

Key words: digital finance, enterprise technological innovation, spatial effect, threshold effect