Abstract: R&D activities are an important way for enterprises to innovate. Enterprises in various countries are paying more and more attention to R&D activities, expecting to effectively promote the development and the competitiveness of the company to enhance the market value. In addition, as stakeholders pay more attention to corporate responsibility and the digital economy, the importance of ESG and digital transformation in corporate development has become increasingly prominent. Based on the panel data of Chinese listed companies from 2010 to 2019, this study adopts a two-way fixed-effects model, controlling for individual and time fixed effects. This paper studies the relationship between corporate R&D investment, corporate ESG performance and corporate market value, as well as the moderating effect of digitalization. This paper deeply explores the impact and mechanism of corporate R&D investment on corporate market value, and at the same time examines whether ESG plays an intermediary role. At the same time, the article tests the moderating effect of corporate digitization level in corporate R&D investment on corporate ESG performance. The study found that corporate R&D investment can help improve the market value of enterprises; corporate R&D investment will make enterprises' ESG performance better, and corporate ESG performance has a partial intermediary role in the impact of corporate R&D investment on its market value; the digitalization of enterprises Level plays a positive regulating role in the improvement of corporate R&D investment on corporate ESG performance. In addition, the robustness of the above results is verified by using Sobel test, substitution variable method and time lag term. According to the results, this paper puts forward the following suggestions: First, it is recommended that the government and social organizations jointly create an environment for active research and development. They can jointly do a good job in the top-level design of enterprise digitalization. This can optimize the business environment to protect SMEs. Second, it is suggested that corporate investors should not only pay attention to corporate financial performance and scale, but also non-financial performance such as corporate environmental performance and social responsibility score when selecting investment targets. This not only ensures the sustainable development of the invested enterprise, but also ensures that the investor's investment has long-term returns. At the same time, it is recommended that enterprises take their own business model as a breakthrough, use existing resources to focus on the overall coordination of digital technology and original resources, and pay attention to the unity of internal digital systems. Third, it is suggested that the government can improve the official corporate ESG evaluation system and information disclosure system, and can also make appropriate incentive policies based on the ESG performance of enterprises. At the same time, the government or relevant departments can reform and improve the market management system and administrative approval process that may hinder the digital transformation of enterprises, so as to help enterprises accurately apply digital technology. In this way, potential risks that are not conducive to the digital transformation of enterprises can be smoothly resolved, thereby helping enterprises to smoothly transition to the "pain period" of digital transformation.