Research data related to industrial design clusters and manufacturing innovation mechanisms

The research object of this paper are the three municipalities directly under the central government within China that hold the City of Design designation (Beijing, Shanghai, and Chongqing). Due to the preferential policies and special financial support provided by their governments for the industrial design industry, the impact of their industrial design clusters on urban manufacturing is more exemplary. The research findings can offer theoretical references for the high-quality development of manufacturing in other cities.The study employs panel data from these three municipalities covering the period 2014–2022. Data sources include the National Bureau of Statistics of China, local statistical yearbooks, public information from official government websites, and the iFinD financial data terminal. As the industrial design industry is not classified as a separate category in the Industrial Classification for National Economic Activities (GB/T 4754—2017), this study uses data from the Scientific Research and Technical Services sector as a proxy.