Problem and purpose. The relevance of the study is due to the need for new pedagogical technologies that contribute to an increase in the innovative potential of the personality of students of modern Russian universities. The purpose of the hereof is to analyze the innovative potential of students' personality based on the example of students of the Siberian Federal University and to determine the possible effectiveness of specific methods for scientific and methodological research of innovative thinking of modern Russian students. Methods. The methods of critical analysis of modern pedagogical concepts aimed at increasing the innovative potential of students are used, the methodology developed by M. Basadur and P. Hausdorf is applied to identify the attitude of the individual to innovation. The study involved 135 respondents, including 25 residents of the Krasnoyarsk City Innovation and Technology Business Incubator and 100 students of the humanities bachelor's degree, studying at the Siberian Federal University. Results. The study program for the innovative potential of students' personality has been clarified, for which the use of the Russian-language version of the methodology of M. Basadur and P. Hausdorf was proposed. The course of application of this technique for each of the two groups of respondents is described according to 4 parameters: understanding the value of new ideas (1), individual stereotypes about innovativeness (2), the value of new ideas for business (3), employment for the application of innovations (4). The comparison of the coefficients of these groups of respondents was carried out: according to parameter 1, the value of the coefficient is 0.6 for the residents of the business incubator and 0.64 for the students specialized in the humanities; according to parameter 2, the value of the coefficient is 0.28 for the residents of the business incubator and 0.26 for the students specialized in the humanities; according to parameter 3, the value of the coefficient is 0.74 for the residents of the business incubator and 0.77 for the students specialized in the humanities; according to parameter 4 the values of the coefficients are 0.27 for both groups of respondents. Quite high levels of the innovative potential of the personality of each group of respondents, the values of the coefficients of which are not less than 0.7are revealed. The similarity of the levels of the innovative personality potential of the residents of the business incubator and the students specialized in the humanities is shown: the difference in the values of the coefficients for parameter 3 is on average 0.025, the values of the coefficients for parameter 4 are equal. At the same time, according to parameters 1, 2, 3, the values of the coefficients of the students specialized in the humanities are 0.02-0.03 higher. Conclusion. Recommendations for teachers are generalized: the use of the proposed methodology for scientific and methodological research of the innovative potential of students' personality; the development of the competencies of students in the humanities, such as the ability for critical and creative thinking, the openness to communication in a complex socio-cultural space, the development of visual and auditory thinking through reliance on the content potential of the relevant educational programs.