Modern trends of innovative activity ensuring growth and sustainable development of the economy of Ukraine

The urgency of finding ways and opportunities to intensify modern innovative practice determined the purpose of this publication, which is to highlight the results of research into the trends of innovative activity to ensure the growth and sustainable development of the economy of Ukraine, as well as to find factors that inhibit this process. This study is based on the thesis that in modern realities, to obtain a commercial or social effect, it is necessary to intensify innovative activity, as a set of processes aimed at creative search, formation, publication, and implementation of innovations in practice. Such activity involves making investments in objects of innovative activity. Methodological aspects of the study consider the concepts of identifying patterns of influence of the volume of expenditures on scientific, research, and design activities on the number of researchers involved in such activities, on the effectiveness of their research, and therefore on the state of innovative development of the state. The change in the positions of Ukraine in the rating evaluations regarding innovative development was investigated, a comparative analysis of the research and development costs of the leading countries of the world and Ukraine in 2020 was performed, the downward dynamics of changes in the number, organisations, and number of employees carrying out R&D, the costs of performing such works and the share were revealed of these costs in the gross domestic product of Ukraine during 2010-2020. The main factors inhibiting the process of intensification of innovative activity include a decrease in state funding of research and development, and therefore, a decrease in the number of organisations and researchers engaged in the creative activity of scientific research. Positive trends towards the formation of gender parity among the performers of scientific research work (47.6% are women), the growth of activity in the field of innovative activity and the increase in expenses of enterprises for innovative activity in 2020 have been revealed. It is proposed to start the development of an effective national innovation policy with the definition of the conceptual provisions of innovative development. The results of the study can be useful for a wide range of scientists who study issues of innovative development, specialists of management structures who analyse the state of innovative development and take care of issues of developing strategies for recovery and further development of the national economy