Revitalizing industrial structure: Unleashing the potential of energy technology innovation

In addition to fostering energy transformation and advancing the greening of the energy industry, energy technology innovation is a key initiative to optimize the industrial structure. This study utilizes China’s provincial data from 2004 to 2020 and establishes relevant econometric models to examine the relationship between energy technology innovation and industrial restructuring. The findings indicate that energy technology innovation directly influences the rationalization and enhancement of industrial structure, but there is a threshold effect of foreign direct investment. Once the foreign direct investment level surpasses this threshold, energy technology innovation can better accelerate the transformation of industrial structure. Furthermore, subregional analysis demonstrates varying impact effects across different regions, with more pronounced adjustments observed in developed regions like the East. Based on these empirical results, we propose macro-control policy recommendations to foster energy technology innovation and facilitate industrial restructuring.