Abstract:     Under the evolution trend of the digitalization of doing business, the digital business environment ecosystem is of great significance for urban science and technology (S&T) innovation. Based on the new structural economics, resource dependence theory and the transaction cost theory, this paper employed the qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) method to explore the complex mechanisms and multivariate configuration paths of urban S&T innovation empowered by digital business environment ecosystem, by taking the data of 61 pilot cities of the national big data comprehensive pilot zone from 2019 to 2021. The findings showed that: (1) There is no single condition within the digital business environment ecosystem  can be regarded as the necessary condition for high urban S&T innovation, the importance of the same condition shows differentiation characteristics in different configurations; however, improving digital infrastructure plays a more general role in producing high urban S&T innovation; (2) Four types of digital business environment ecosystems produce high urban S&T innovation, including digital government-market collaboration with financial assistance under digital infrastructure, digital government-led with resource aggregation under digital infrastructure, talent-driven and digital market-oriented under digital infrastructure which lack of government affairs, digital market-oriented with resource aggregation under digital infrastructure; (3) There are four types of ecosystems of digital business environment leading non-high urban S&T innovation, which can be divided into ecosystem to-be-built with the absence of digital infrastructure and lack of digital government-market collaboration with the absence of resources. The findings will enrich the understanding of complex mechanisms and multivariate configuration paths for urban S&T innovation empowered by the digital business environment ecosystem and provide beneficial ideas for promoting the construction of digital business environment and improving the S&T innovation system and mechanism.

Key words: digital business environment ecosystem, urban science and technology innovation, qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), configuration analysis