Promoting the free flow and optimal allocation of cross-regional technological factors is an important path for building a unified national market and advancing coordinated regional development. As an important link of social organizations, non-local chambers of commerce play a unique role in facilitating inter-provincial technology transfer, yet their specific mechanisms and actual effects still require in-depth exploration. By collating the patent transfer database and non-local chamber of commerce information in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA), this paper empirically examines the impact of non-local chambers of commerce on inter-provincial technology transfer. The results reveal that: Non-local chambers of commerce help promote the inter-provincial transfer of patent technologies in the GBA; on average, regions with non-local chambers of commerce established in the GBA receive 2.07 times the number of technology transfer from the GBA compared to regions without such chambers. There exists a “complementary effect” rather than a “substitution effect” between institutional quality, infrastructure, and non-local chambers of commerce. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that in terms of technological characteristics, non-local chambers of commerce are more conducive to inter-provincial technology transfer in industries with a low-to-medium proportion of process innovation than those with a high proportion of process innovation. Meanwhile, such chambers better facilitate the transfer in non-strategic emerging industries rather than that in strategic emerging industries. In terms of technology sources, non-local chambers of commerce have no significant effect on the inter-provincial transfer of patent technologies from universities and research institutes, but help accelerate the inter-provincial transfer of those owned by enterprises and individuals. In terms of regions, non-local chambers of commerce help accelerate the transfer of GBA patents to the eastern region, highlighting the high efficiency of the technological allocation function of such chambers in developed areas. Extended research finds that technology transfer helps promote high-quality innovation in recipient regions, as reflected by the increase in the number of invention patent applications and authorizations.

The conclusions offer empirical references for government departments to “effectively cultivate and utilize social capital to serve the construction of a unified national market”.