Abstract: Based on the panel data of China’s provinces during the period of 2000-2007, an empirical analysis on the scientific and technology innovation efficiency and its convergence and influence factors is conducted by using the Data Envolopment Analysis(DEA) model of variable scale returns. The results are as follows:the scientific and technology innovation efficiency has the character of periodic undulation evolution; the east provinces have higher innovation efficiency than that for the middle and west provinces, the efficiency for west provinces enhances quickly, has caught up with and surpassed the efficiency for middle provinces; the west provinces have the absolute and conditional convergence; the conditional convergence of the whole country and the east-middle area is remarkable, however, the absolute convergence is not obvious; the industry structure, the openness, and the higher education level of development have the positive influence on the efficiency, meanwhile the government effect has the negative impact on scientific and technology innovation efficiency. The conclusions will provide enlightenments for the policy of national scientific and technology innovation efficiency.

Key words: science and technology innovation efficiency, DEA, convergence, Tobit model, panel data