Abstract: 【Purpose/significance】Exploring global professional development of knowledge service of think tank is of great signifi⁃ cance to enhance the global influence and international discourse power of think tank.【Method/process】Based on the innovationdriven development theory, this paper proposes its condition variables by analyzing the characteristics of global and professional devel⁃ opment of knowledge service of think tank, and constructs a conceptual model of innovation-driven global professional development of knowledge service of think tank, then uses fsQCA to analyze 40 well-known think tanks at home and abroad, to explore and analyze the condition combination that can innovatively drive the global professional development of knowledge service of think tank, and puts forward its innovation-driven patterns.【Result/conclusion】The global professional development of knowledge service of think tank is driven by the condition of intellectual capital’s three elements of think tank, including human capital, structural capital and relational capital. Among them, condition variables including professional, global thematic database, and global thematic conference are the core conditions，but they are not necessary conditions; five condition combinations can innovatively drive the global professional develop⁃ ment of knowledge service, and forms two types and five kinds of innovation-driven patterns. It effectively verifies that there are mul⁃ tiple concurrent causal relationships between the outcome variable and the condition variable.【Innovation/limitation】The innovation of this paper lies in the application of fsQCA method to explore the complex causal relationship between variables，and puts forward five types of innovation-driven patterns of global professional development of knowledge service of think tank.