Leveling breaks in the innovative development of socio-economic systems

The chapter accounts for the problem of identification and leveling breaks in the innovative development of socio-economic systems in example of Ukraine in the face of new challenges for the state in the process of developing relations with the EU.

The aim of the paper is to assess the level of innovation competitiveness of the Ukrainian economy and determine the most important factors for leveling breaks in its innovative development in the conditions of association with the EU.

The analysis of world rankings has shown that the innovative development of Ukraine determines comparative factor advantages in coverage of higher education, availability of scientific staff, and quality of research institutions, but low state support, lack of stability, and problems in institutional development hamper the country’s innovative potential. Cluster analysis showed that Ukraine is in the same cluster as Poland. Bulgaria and Romania, which have not yet fully consistent with the level of technological competitiveness of EU leaders. Among the strengths of Ukraine is the development of human resources and labor effect. The correlation analysis between the components of the Global Innovation Index and the factors of increasing Ukraine’s competitiveness indicates a moderate link between the development of clusters, the ratio of expenditures on R&D to GDP, and the export of ICT services. In order to level breaks in the innovative development of Ukraine it’s necessary: to increase both foreign investments and state financing; improvement of regulatory acts, reduction of corruption, institutional improvement; support of technologies through of regional cluster programs or “smart specialization”; integration into the European Research Area.