Research on Regional High-Tech Innovation Efficiency and Influence Factors: Evidence from Yangtze River Economic Belt in China

China’s high‐tech innovation and marketization efficiency still need to be optimized, which restricts the promotion of regional innovation and economic development. On such practical problem, this paper mainly focuses on improvement of high‐tech efficiency of China, with the hope that the research can help to find ways to improve efficiency in both regions and industry development. Moreover, the impact on the high‐tech innovation stage and the marketization stage are analyzed, in order to make clear the main problems in the complex process of high‐tech innovation. This paper proposed the super‐SBM model and the panel regression model. The conclusions are as follows. (1) The efficiency of high‐tech innovation in China is improving, but there are great differences within regions. Therefore, the heterogeneous regional innovation context should be taken into consideration in the institutional management policies. (2) There is a significant positive correlation between government subsidies and R&D intensity in improving the high‐tech innovation efficiency. Government needs to carry out appropriate policy guidance, increase financial support, and encourage high‐tech enterprises to increase R&D investment. (3) Openness and better innovation environment play a positive role in the technology marketization stage; thus, the establishment of inter‐regional cooperation or transnational relations is an effect way. Forming a better innovation environment can also help to enhance international high‐technology cooperation and improve marketization efficiency.