Abstract:    S&T innovation talents serve as both the main driving force and the source of innovation for S&T development. Enhancing talent efficiency among S&T innovation talents is of great significance for advancing China′s S&T undertakings. Drawing on the quadruple helix theory and employing a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis, this study adopted 143 listed companies on China′s S&T innovation Board as research objects to investigate the collaborative effects of government, enterprises, universities, and the public in the process of improving S&T innovation talent efficiency. The findings showed that: (1) no single helix element constitutes a necessary condition for enhancing S&T innovation talent efficiency; (2) there are three distinct paths toward improving S&T innovation talent efficiency: "government driven under the insufficient supply of resources in universities and the lack of public participation", "government driven under the lack of internal resources in enterprises, insufficient supply of talents in universities and the lack of public participation" and "resources supply of universities and public participation under poor governmentdriven and the lack of internal resources in enterprises"; (3) in two different contexts—"universities failing to provide talent and intellectual support to enterprises and lacking public demand guidance" and "enterprises having limited available resources, universities failing to provide talent support, and lacking public demand guidance"—government support for scientific research can play a driving role. These findings have extended the quadruple helix theory and research on talent efficiency in S&T innovation talent, and they will provide practical insights for giving full play to the important role of S&T innovation talent.

Key words: S&T innovation talent, talent efficiency, quadruple helix theory, fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA)