Institutional Innovation and Diffusion Patterns of Inclusive AI at County Level: Evidence from Private Economy-Dominated Regions

Abstract

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and inclusive growth drives transitional economies to narrow regional gaps and pursue common prosperity. China’s private economy-dominated areas are characterized by industrial clusters, market-based operations and severe urban-rural imbalances, creating a unique context for inclusive AI diffusion at the county level. Taking Wenzhou, a private economic hub in Zhejiang’s Common Prosperity Demonstration Zone, as the research sample, this paper adopts field surveys and empirical data to construct a four-dimensional theoretical framework: institutional supply, market adoption, inclusive diffusion and common prosperity empowerment. It systematically explores institutional barriers, innovative mechanisms and spatial diffusion modes of grassroots inclusive AI. The results identify four core constraints on AI popularization: uneven technological resource distribution, cross-regional data isolation, insufficient digital literacy of rural laborers, and high transformation costs for private SMEs. Targeted institutional innovations including tiered financial subsidies, industrial chain coordination, inclusive public computing power and multi-stakeholder co-governance can eliminate the “urban technological highland versus county technological lowland” gap. This study summarizes three localized diffusion patterns: leader-driven chain diffusion, platform-enabled cluster diffusion and scenario-oriented gradient diffusion. Mechanism tests verify that inclusive AI realizes common prosperity through three core paths: industrial efficiency growth, equalized public services and labor skill upgrading. This research expands the theoretical meaning of AI diffusion under institutional limits, provides localized institutional schemes for county-level digital inclusion, and offers practical references for emerging economies to coordinate technological progress and inclusive growth.