Analyzing the innovation ability of listed companies in the core area of the Huaihai economic zone

The strategic position of the core area of the Huaihai Economic Zone is very important. The evaluation and analysis of the listed companies’ innovation ability in this core area effectively reflect the level of innovation ability of regional enterprises and uncover the differences and influencing factors of the enterprise innovation ability level across different cities and industries; this would provide a reference for further improving the enterprise innovation ability level in the Huaihai Economic Zone. Given this context, data are collected from the CSMAR database on 37 listed companies in eight cities in the Huaihai Economic Zone core area from 2017 to 2021, and an innovation ability evaluation index is constructed from the innovation input and innovation output dimensions of listed companies. The results show that the innovation ability of listed companies in the region is weak; the main reason for the lack of innovation ability of listed companies is the lack of capital investment and talent investment; the innovation primacy of Xuzhou listed enterprises is not high. Finally, in view of the improvement of the innovation ability of listed enterprises in the core field, corresponding suggestions are put forward from the aspects of increasing innovation investment, optimizing the innovation environment and improving the innovation leading force in Xuzhou.