Abstract:Based on the data from 2009 to 2016, the three-stage DEA method was used to estimate the efficiency of Marine science & technology innovation in 11 provinces and cities along the Coast of China, and its spatial effect was revealed by means of spatial econometric model. The results show that the pure technical efficiency of Marine science and technology innovation in all provinces and cities after eliminating the interference of environmental variables and random factors is high, reaching or close to DEA efficiency. The scale efficiency value is low and seriously affects the comprehensive efficiency, so there is a large room for improvement. In terms of adjacency matrix, economic distance matrix and nested matrix, the efficiency of Marine science and technology innovation plays a significant role in promoting the development of local Marine economy. Although it has an impact on neighboring provinces and cities, the improvement is not large. Environmental variables such as capital investment, Marine structure level and Marine higher education also have a positive impact on the development of Marine economy.