Abstract:This article analyzes the spatial and temporal evolution of innovation outputs and its influencing factors-measured by the number of patent authorization-in 26 cities in the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration from 2005 to 2014 by using two-stage nested Theil decomposition method and the exploratory spatial data analysis and the geography detector method from the perspective of time, space and geographical proximity. The results show that:(1)From the temporal characteristics, the relative difference of innovation output of urban agglomeration is decreasing from 2005 to 2014 and the heterogeneity within the region is obvious;(2)The difference of innovation output by the weighted with population is larger than the difference of innovation output by the weighted with GDP;(3)From the spatial characteristics, the innovation output of urban agglomeration is not balanced. The city of high innovation output presents "Z" font distribution mainly along the Shanghai-Nanjing-Hefei-Hangzhou-Ningbo development zone. The overall showing the "North cold South heat, the West cold hot" spatial correlation characteristics;(4)With the passage of time, the level of informatization has gradually become the dominant factor affecting the innovation output in the Yangtze River Delta.