Against the strategic backdrop of high-quality economic development and advancing technological self-reliance, firms play a critical role in overcoming local technological path dependence and integrating cross-regional innovation resources. Yet, geographic distance, administrative fragmentation, and rising coordination costs often constrain cross-regional collaboration by exacerbating information asymmetry, resource misallocation, and collaboration risks. In this context, whether science and technology innovation corridors can effectively promote corporate cross-regional collaborative innovation and its underlying mechanisms require systematic micro-level empirical evidence.

Using data on listed companies from 41 Yangtze River Delta cities over 2010–2023, this paper examines the impact of the G60 Science and Technology Innovation Corridor as an institutional spatial intervention on corporate cross-regional collaborative innovation. The results show that the corridor significantly enhances cross-regional collaborative innovation through three main channels: reducing information asymmetry, optimizing resource allocation, and lowering dependence on existing supply chains. Further analysis identifies a U-shaped moderating effect of corporate independent innovation capacity: The positive effect of the corridor can be fully realized only when firms possess sufficient internal innovation capacity. This effect also varies across firm lifecycle stages, collaboration partner selections, and spatial configurations.

This paper makes the following contributions: First, it systematically evaluates the impact of the corridor on cross-regional collaborative innovation, enriching empirical evidence on corridor-based innovation policies. Second, it integrates information asymmetry, resource allocation, and supply chain dependence, revealing the mechanisms through which institutional spatial interventions shape collaborative innovation behavior. Third, it dynamically characterizes heterogeneous strategic responses, offering actionable insights for optimizing regional innovation policies and guiding corporate collaborative innovation strategies.