Colleges and universities are important parts of the national innovation system. Exploring the impact of scientific and technological innovation in colleges and universities on high-quality economic development is conducive to improving the innovation ability of colleges and universities and promoting economic transformation and upgrading. Based on the provincial panel data of from 2012 to 2021, the fixed-effect model is used to verify the influence of scientific and technological innovation ability of universities on the high-quality development of regional economy. It is found that scientific and technological innovation in universities can significantly promote the high-quality development of regional economy, and this effect is still valid after a series of robustness tests. The impact of scientific and technological innovation on high-quality economic development is positively regulated by policy tools, among which environmental policy tools have the greatest impact, followed by supply policy tools, and demand policy tools are not significant. There is spatial and temporal heterogeneity in the influence of scientific and technological innovation on the high-quality development of regional economy. In the eastern region, regions with high marketization level and after the implementation of the "double first-class" construction policy, the influence of scientific and technological innovation ability of colleges and universities on enabling high-quality economic development is more significant.