Abstract: The city-level industry-education consortium acts as a crucial platform for advancing the development of the modern vocational education system and promoting high-quality regional economic growth. From the innovation ecosystem theory perspective, it forms a regional innovation ecosystem composed of diverse innovation entities, including local governments, industry enterprises, and vocational colleges. Its primary aim is to foster profound integration among the four interconnected chains of “education, talent, industry, and innovation”through collaborative value creation and co-evolution among multiple stakeholders. This study takes the city-level industry-education consortium in Taizhou, Zhejiang Province, as a case study and reveals that the consortium has begun to shape an ecosystem characterized by the deep integration of industrial elements and vocational education resources. Nevertheless, it confronts structural challenges such as rigid organizational boundaries, an inadequate institutional framework, and outdated evaluation mechanisms. To bolster its capacity to drive high-quality regional economic and social development, it is imperative to establish an ecosystem restructuring pathway that emphasizes interactive innovation entities as the connecting link, institutional innovation as the safeguard, and value sharing as the ultimate objective.

Key words: City-level industry-education consortium, Innovation ecosystem, Collaborative value creation, Institutional innovation, Integration of industry and education, Pathway reconfiguration