The Nexus of Digitalization, Talent, and High-Quality Development: How Clusters Foster Sustainable Economic Growth

In the context of the digital economy reshaping the global competitive landscape, digital industry clusters have become the key driving force to overcome the diminishing returns of traditional inputs and realize sustainable economic development in the digital era. However, the internal mechanisms and spatial effects through which digital industrial clusters drive high-quality development and thereby foster sustainable regional economic growth remain unclear. Based on China’s provincial panel data from 2012 to 2023, this study constructs time-fixed spatial Durbin model and mediation effect model to systematically examine the impact mechanism of digital industry clusters on high-quality economic development, and to analyze their direct effects, spatial spillover effects and mediation transmission effects. The following effects have been found: (1) digital industry clusters can directly promote the high-quality development of the region’s economy (0.070), and can also significantly promote the high-quality development of the region’s economy through the mediating effect of innovative talent agglomeration (0.021); (2) the spatial spillover effect of digital industry clusters consists of the negative siphoning effect of innovative talent and positive technology diffusion and driving effect, which makes the total effect of digital industry clusters on neighboring regions uncertain; (3) Technology-intensive areas, as well as the eastern and northeastern regions, have effectively transformed the advantages of digital industry clusters into momentum for high-quality economic development, whereas central and western regions have not yet fully unleashed the driving effect of digital industry on the high-quality development of the economy, due to the constraints of the industrial structure, innovation factors and infrastructure. Based on the empirical results, the article suggests accelerating the construction of digital industry innovation hubs, establishing cross-regional technology sharing platforms, constructing a negative externality compensation mechanism for talent loss areas, and implementing differentiated regional development strategies. The study addresses a gap in existing research by analyzing the spatial mediation effects of digital industrial agglomeration on high-quality economic development. It extends theoretical insights into industrial clustering within the digital economy and offers actionable policy pathways for developing countries to promote sustainable economic growth through digital industrial clusters.