THE LEVEL OF KNOWLEDGE INTENSITY OF THE COUNTRY’S ECONOMIC SYSTEM

Abstract

The relevance of studying the issues of the knowledge intensity of economic systems has led to the conduct of these studies and determines their scientific and practical significance. The purpose of the study is a multidimensional analysis of the knowledge intensity of the domestic economic system, in particular, its creative potential, the activity of technological modernization of industry, and the creative initiative of economic actors. In the process of research, the EBRD methodology is used to evaluate the development of the knowledge economy, taking into account the specifics of the national organization of official statistical observations. In 2017, more than 1.8 thousand domestic enterprises (in the industrial sector – 1159 enterprises) created and used the latest technologies, innovation proposals, and other objects of intellectual property rights. The highest rates of creative activity were observed steadily among enterprises of information and communication sphere, financial and insurance directions, and also in the field of engineering. The leaders in the production and implementation of technological research and development (R&D) were processing industry, energy, engineering, professional scientific and advertising activities, non-technological – financial, insurance, information, telecommunication, processing enterprises. By types of economic activity, pharmaceutical companies, manufacturers of precise and extremely-precise equipment, chemical industry enterprises steadily occupied the leading positions in the field of creative activity. The analysis of regional dynamics shows the general tendency of reduction in the number of industrial enterprises that created, used or distributed creative developments. In general, during the period of research, the creative activity of enterprises decreased by almost a third, and downward processes are characteristic for almost all regions of Ukraine. In 2017, 2387 product innovations were introduced by the objects of industry, including innovative devices, equipment, machines, most of which were new for the relevant market. Today, there is a sufficient scientific and practical foundation for the development of creative clusters in hightech sectors. However, these processes are hampered over the lack of budget allocations. There is a tendency of increasing R&D financing by leading industrial enterprises, establishing the practice of their acquisition of hightech equipment and related technologies. In 2016–2017, there was a restructuring of investment flows, which manifested in reducing the costs of R&D intellectual components and reorientation of financial flows towards the acquisition of modern production equipment. In order to implement their own creative and innovative programs, in 2017, enterprises acquired 832 new technologies, most of which were completed with the corresponding equipment. By industrial enterprises, 59 creative technological developments were created and transferred to other entities. Total investments in updating domestic industrial enterprises amounted to more than 9.1 billion hryvnias in 2017. By types of economic activity, the leaders were the machinery and equipment industry and the food industry. Conclusions. Therefore, the significant creative potential of the domestic industry, further enhanced by active cooperation with scientific institutions, can become the basis for structural transformation and a source of scientific and technological “breakthrough” of our state.