Abstract
Green innovation is essential for sustainable development worldwide. This study investigates how university engagement, coupled with the Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities of industrial actors, enhances regional green innovation performance within the framework of Regional Innovation Systems (RIS) theory. Using a longitudinal dataset of 31 Chinese provinces from 2008 to 2019 and employing a dynamic panel analysis with the GMM estimator, the results show that university embeddedness in regional innovation networks significantly increases green innovation performance. Contrary to previous studies , our research shows that within RIS, absorptive capacity plays a more critical role than AI in enhancing the effectiveness of knowledge transfer and exploitation, highlighting the primacy of human and organisational factors over technological tools alone. This research advances RIS theory by highlighting the critical role of university-embedded networks and systemic interactions among heterogeneous actors, demonstrating higher-order returns from knowledge exchange beyond dyadic partnerships, and enriching the understanding of the integration of AI into RIS frameworks.