Science popularization (SP) is the foundation and premise of technological innovation. It is important to put popularization of science work on the same important position as technological innovation. Based on the panel data from 2010 to 2015 of 31 provinces in China, this paper established an indices system of Regional SP ability evaluation index from 5 aspects including the construction of scientific personnel, science infrastructure, science funding, creation science and science activities, we determine the index weight of each area in the calculation of science capacity using the entropy method, and they are divided into three areas according to the calculation results. On this basis, we use the two-way fixed effect model to examine the impact of popular science service on regional innovation ability in China. The results show that SP service has a positive impact on China's overall regional innovation capability. Meanwhile, there is obviously regional heterogeneity: the impact of SP on the second regions is the most significant, and it is not significant for the first or third regions. The study of this paper provides some empirical evidence for reducing the regional innovation gap by strengthening the construction of SP ability.

science popularization  /  regional innovation ability  /  panel data