Introduction. The article considers the issues of innovation in entrepreneurial activity, in particular in the effective management system of operational activity, competitiveness and marketing. Based on the study, a chronological illustration of the study of the entrepreneurship genesis in the context of well-known economic schools was proposed and attention was focused on these components of efficiency. The purpose of the article is to study innovation in entrepreneurial activity, in particular in the effective management system of operational activity, competitiveness and marketing. Results. It is shown that modern scientific rethinking of basic concepts (terms) of business development should be based on constant and uninterrupted procedural consideration of the studied phenomenon, which is due to the need for systematic generalization and aggregation of new input scientific knowledge with a variable categorical system laws that are at the stage of constant development, expansion and improvement. It is outlined that in modern economics there are conceptual gaps and terminological polysemy, which are due to system transformations, synthesis of evolutionism and synergetics in the nature of entrepreneurship, objective conditions for the accumulation of scientific data, which sometimes exceed the pace of their conceptual interpretation. Emphasis is placed on the fact that the elimination of these scientific gaps should be further mainstream of fundamental analysis in economic theory to improve the understanding of the basic concepts of innovation and entrepreneurship. Conclusions. It is proved that despite all the variety of approaches (ontological, epistemological, axiological) entrepreneurship in an innovative economy is defined as a specific form of economic and socially useful activity of an individual who, based on creativity and personal experience, initiates innovative projects, management decisions; on the basis of entrepreneurship, manages and plans its activities; on the basis of responsibility is personally responsible for the results of their risky activities; on the basis of interest, changes and adapts its business activities in accordance with the conditions of the external environment and the available resource potential. Entrepreneurship is the basis of the innovation process in the national economy, and innovation is not only a defining feature of entrepreneurial activity, but also a major factor in economic dynamics, as well as new methods of production, marketing, and in general stimulate further development of innovative economy. Key words: innovation, entrepreneurial activity, effective management system, operational activity, competitiveness, marketing.