Abstract:

Policy pilot promotion is essential for understanding policy innovation and process in China. To further uncover the mechanisms behind policy pilot promotion and explore the principles underlying effective promotion， a theoretical framework for pilot promotion was established using the centrally-promoted environmental policy pilots as a case study， employing a grounded theory approach. The analysis revealed that the interplay between central vertical authority intervention and local horizontal innovation integration is the core axis throughout the entire life cycle of policy pilot initiation and promotion. Performance output and innovation risk， acting as positive and negative driving forces respectively， determine the level of innovation willingness among local governments. The strategic interaction between central process pressure and local innovation initiatives plays a significant role in the roll out of pilot programs. Based on the strength matching between these two factors， the pilot promotion modes can be categorized into four types： momentum-building， trend-following， momentum-driven， and momentum-leading， each exhibiting unique connotations and logical structures.

Key words: policy pilot, pilot policy, promotion mode, top-level design, local innovation