How is the development of industrial digital-real integration progressing?—Evidence from China’s cultural industries

Digital-real integration refers to embedding digital technologies across the entire industrial chain and lifecycle of the real economy, thereby forming a high-quality industrial ecosystem centered on digital technologies. Based on this concept, this study aimed to propose a methodology for scientifically assessing the progress of digital-real integration in the cultural industry. To achieve this, the study used Chinese cultural industry as an example by employing social network analysis, text classification and text similarity methods to construct a patent network, aiming to meet the research objectives by examining network characteristics, division of labor measurement and other dimensions. The findings indicated that the development of digital-real integration in China’s cultural industry had surpassed the initial stage of technological integration and progressed to the intermediate stage of innovation chain and industrial chain integration. However, it had not yet reached the advanced stage of digital ecological operation. Therefore, customized and targeted policies should be implemented to address weak links, facilitating the establishment, strengthening and supplementation of industrial chains in the cultural industry.