Abstract: With the promotion of the patent pledge pilot and the rapid development of patent pledge loans across the country，a proposition worthy of indepth study is whether the patent pledge has significantly improved the innovation ability of Chinese firms Or more specifically，can patent pledge notably stimulate firms to increase research and development （R&D） investment and improve patent output，and does it have a positive impact on the patent quality structure of firms? Against the backdrop of ownership disparities in Chinas credit market，do patent pledge loans exhibit similar characteristics and create new incentive distortions? This paper delves deeply into these pressing questions
Based on the Chinese Firm Patent Survey Data，the total number of patents is used to measure the innovation output of firms，the proportions of R&D expenditures and R&D personnel are utilized to reflect the innovation incentive of firms，and the proportion of invention patents in the total number of patents is employed to characterize the innovation quality of firms Building upon these measures，this study quantitatively investigates the impact of patent pledges on firms innovation output，innovation incentive，and innovation quality
It is found that the patent pledge significantly improves the innovation capabilities of firms，and its positive effect is not only reflected in the number of R&D outputs represented by the total number of patents，but also in the quality of R&D outputs represented by the proportion of invention patents Further analysis shows that the patent pledge has significantly enhanced the R&D incentives of firms and increased the proportions of R&D expenditures and R&D personnel Moderating effect analysis depicts that R&D job rewards can help expand the acceleration of the invention patent pledge to the innovation output of firms，but the R&D cycle will inhibit the acceleration of the patent pledge to firms innovation output to some extent The heterogeneous effect analysis indicates that patent pledge has an impact on the R&D output quantity，R&D output quality，and R&D incentives of firms with different ownership and size However，in comparison，the positive impact of patent pledges on the innovation output of stateowned enterprises and large corporations is more significant，whereas it demonstrates a more noticeable effect on the R&D investment and improvement in the patent quality structure of nonstateowned enterprises and small businesses The empirical results of this paper have provided certain policy enlightenment for the indepth development of patent pledge pilot projects and the enhancement of firm innovation capabilities
Compared to existing literature，the papers novelty primarily lies in two aspects：Firstly，due to the scarcity of microlevel data on patent pledge loans for firms，previous studies have provided limited insights from the perspective of patent pledges regarding firms innovation behavior，incentives，and capabilities This paper，leveraging data from the Chinese Firm Patent Survey Data and taking patent pledge loans as the starting point，delves into the impact of patent pledge loans on firms R&D investments，patent output，and patent quality，serving as a significant complement to existing literature Secondly，across different provinces and cities nationwide，intellectual property bureaus set varying entry thresholds for firms applying for patent pledges and patent quality，leading to potentially diverse impacts of different types of patent pledges on firms innovation capabilities Moreover，by examining the distinct responses of stateowned and nonstateowned enterprises to patent pledges regarding their innovation behavior，this study contributes to enriching the literature on ownership disparities and resource allocation

Key words: patent pledge；patent quantity；patent quality；innovation incentive；R&, D investment

摘要： 本文利用中国企业专利调查数据，在微观层面定量考察了专利权质押对企业创新的影响。研究发现，专利权质押显著提升了企业的创新能力，其积极效应不仅体现在以专利总数为代表的研发产出数量上，而且体现在以发明专利占比为代表的研发产出质量上。专利权质押显著增强了企业的研发激励，提高了企业的研发经费占比和研发人员占比。调节效应分析表明，研发职务奖励有助于扩大发明专利质押对企业创新产出的促进作用，但研发周期在一定程度上会抑制专利质押对企业创新产出的促进作用。异质性分析表明，专利权质押对不同所有制企业和不同规模企业的研发产出数量、研发产出质量和研发投入均有显著影响，但相比之下，专利权质押对国有企业和大企业创新产出数量的正面影响更大，对非国有企业和小企业研发投入和专利质量结构改善更为明显。本文研究结论为深入开展专利权质押试点和提升企业创新能力提供了一定的政策启示。

关键词: 专利权质押, 专利数量, 专利质量, 创新激励, 研发投入