High-level technological self-reliance and self-strengthening put forward profound transformation requirements for the technological innovation ecosystem. Symptoms in the existing system, such as utilitarianism, short-sightedness, and a disconnection from the innovation chain, increasingly point to adaptability shortcomings in the soft power of innovation culture. Existing research often regards culture as an exogenous background or auxiliary factor of innovation activities, failing to systematically reveal how it transforms from a ‘soft environment’ into an endogenous variable influencing the construction of the technological innovation ecosystem. This paper focuses on the core topic of ‘innovation culture driving the construction of the technological innovation ecosystem,’ defining the connotation of innovation culture from three dimensions: history, function, and composition, and clarifying its composite structure in terms of concepts, systems, and behaviors. By integrating institutional theory and innovation ecosystem theory, it constructs an analytical framework of a ‘value-oriented—behavioral norms—resource integration’ chain transmission mechanism, systematically explaining how innovation culture precisely addresses current shortcomings in the technological innovation ecosystem by reshaping innovation value coordinates, regulating the behavior of diverse actors, and optimizing the effectiveness of factor allocation. Furthermore, based on summarizing the progress of innovation culture construction in China, it analyzes current obstacles, including insufficient value consensus, unclear strategic positioning, incompatible institutional incentives, weak organizational vitality, and a lackluster social atmosphere. Finally, it proposes a five-dimensional integrated optimization path of ‘top-level design—value cultivation—institutional coordination—organizational activation—environmental empowerment,’ incorporating responsible entities, policy tools, and evaluation metrics. This research elevates innovation culture from an exogenous background variable to an endogenous driving framework for technological innovation ecosystem construction, providing theoretical insights and practical references for optimizing the China-specific technology governance system and fostering an innovation ecosystem compatible with high-level technological self-reliance and self-strengthening.