Abstract: With the rapid development of the digital economy,data have become a key resource driving technological transformation and industrial upgrading.Among various types of data,social credit data—encompassing dimensions such as tax records,contract fulfillment,judicial rulings,public evaluations,and transaction histories—constitute a crucial component of government data resources.When utilized effectively,such data can help reduce information asymmetry,improve the efficiency of financial resource allocation,and foster innovation-driven economic growth.However,for a long time,China's credit data have been characterized by fragmented collection,decentralized management,and inconsistent technical standards,leading to “data silos” that limit the realization of their value.The nationwide rollout of digital social credit platforms represents a significant institutional response.By standardizing data interfaces and governance rules,these platforms facilitate the real-time sharing of credit information and enable coordinated incentive and disciplinary mechanisms among government departments,financial institutions,and market entities. Innovation is a critical strategic activity for firms.Against the backdrop of intensifying technological competition and ongoing economic restructuring,technological innovation has become a key factor in driving high-quality economic development and enhancing national core competitiveness.This paper exploits the phased construction of city-level social credit platforms from 2008 to 2022 as a quasi-natural experiment to investigate whether and through what mechanisms credit data sharing promotes firm-level innovation.Using a sample of A-share listed companies and applying a staggered difference-in-differences (DID) design,we examine changes in firms' innovation performance,measured by the number of invention patent applications.To ensure the robustness of our findings,we conduct a series of tests,including checks on identification assumptions,placebo tests,alternative measures for the dependent variable,and adjustments to clustering standards. The results indicate that credit data sharing significantly enhances firms' innovation performance.We identify three primary mechanisms:First,enhanced credit transparency helps alleviate financing constraints,as firms with sound credit records gain better access to bank loans.Second,improved information transparency curbs managerial opportunism,prompting firms to reallocate internal slack resources to R&D activities.Third,increased trust between firms,and between firms and employees,fosters collaboration,manifested through a rise in joint patent applications and improved labor investment efficiency.These effects are particularly pronounced among firms with higher dependence on external financing,greater demand for information disclosure,and richer digital footprints.Further analysis reveals a “credit leverage” effect:the public disclosure of negative credit information strengthens disciplinary actions against non-compliant firms and incentivizes the reallocation of resources toward credible innovators.Moreover,credit data sharing enhances the efficiency of R&D investment,leading to simultaneous improvements in both the quality and productivity of innovation activities. Compared to the existing literature,this paper makes the following contributions:First,it provides a systematic analysis of the impact of credit data sharing on firm-level technological innovation,paying particular attention to core transmission channels such as financing constraints,information transparency,and cooperation incentives.By clarifying how credit information flows influence corporate innovation behavior,it offers new insights into the micro-level channels through which the digital economy shapes real economic development,thereby extending and deepening existing research.Second,leveraging the establishment of digital social credit platforms as an exogenous shock,this paper investigates the impact of credit data sharing on corporate innovation.It finds that credit data sharing enhances firm innovation by mitigating information asymmetry in capital markets and safeguarding contractual effectiveness.This perspective,grounded in theories of capital market information asymmetry and incomplete contracts,enriches the literature related to corporate innovation.Third,by providing empirical evidence on the effectiveness and underlying logic of the government's market-based allocation of data assets,this study offers policy implications for enhancing the utilization efficiency of credit data and advancing the modernization of China's national governance system and capacity.