The Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine (MES) and BRDO presented the results of a study on the innovative potential of Ukrainian educational and scientific institutions. The presentation took place on 12 November as part of the event “World Science Day 2025: Ukraine”. The aim of the study was to assess the current state of innovation in educational and scientific institutions, identify key barriers and develop effective solutions to overcome them.
The study was conducted as part of the creation and implementation of the special legal regime Science.City, which is being jointly implemented by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine. The initiative is part of the Ukrainian Global Innovation Strategy until 2030, aiming to unite science, education and business into a single ecosystem of innovative development for the country.
There are 336 universities and 45 science parks in Ukraine by 2025.
According to the study, Ukraine’s innovative infrastructure is developing unevenly, while a shortage of personnel and complex intellectual property procedures are reducing the effectiveness of scientific developments.
The following key barriers to innovation in higher education institutions have been identified:
- Institutional: excessive centralisation of management.
- Human resources: brain drain of young researchers, shortage of specialists involved in the transfer of scientific and technological developments (technology transfer).
- Financial: low level of private investment in research and development (R&D).
- Regulatory: complexity of intellectual property rights transfer and property leasing.
- Culture and mindset: mistrust between education, business and the state.
- Security: destruction of scientific laboratories and relocation of institutions due to the war.
Despite this, some universities are demonstrating successful examples of innovative development even in difficult conditions. In particular, National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute”, Lviv Polytechnic National University, Sumy State University, Ukrainian Catholic University, Zhytomyr Polytechnic National University, and other universities and scientific institutions have established their own technology transfer offices, start-up schools, incubators, and partnerships with businesses.
Based on the results of the study, the Ministry of Education and Science, together with BRDO, developed a model for managing innovation through science parks as a “single window” for universities, scientists and businesses.
The main principles of this model are:
- Integration of innovation activities into the strategy of higher education institutions;
- Introduction of key performance indicators (KPIs) and a transparent intellectual property management policy;
- Creation of a market-oriented portfolio of R&D services;
- Use of a resident model without rent, simplified forms of charitable contributions and a “raw materials for research” mechanism.
The study pays particular attention to the Science.City initiative, which aims to bring together education, science, business and the state into a single innovative ecosystem.
For the innovative ecosystem to be fully launched, it is necessary to strengthen the institutional capacity of higher education and scientific institutions and their state support. Based on the results of the study, the Ministry of Education and Science, together with BRDO, developed the following steps:
- Introduce a special innovation support regime for science parks and the education and science sectors, or extend the ‘“Diia.City” regime to these sectors.
- Ensure the financial and institutional autonomy of universities and scientific institutions.
- Create an electronic office for science parks within the Ukrainian Research Information System (URIS).
- Introduce tax incentives for R&D services and customs privileges for scientific equipment.
- Develop a system for monitoring the effectiveness of innovations and training specialists in technology transfer.
All these recommendations and the aforementioned description of the state of the sector are presented in detail in the study “Analysis of the innovative capacity of institutions of Ukrainian universities and scientific institutions: conclusions and recommendations”. The study is based on a survey of managers and representatives of the management of 34 institutions of higher education and scientific institutions.
See the full text of the study (in Ukrainian) via the link.
The study “Analysis of the innovative capacity of institutions of Ukrainian universities and scientific institutions: conclusions and recommendations” was conducted by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine with the support of the “Digitalisation for Growth, Integrity and Transparency (UK DIGIT)” project, implemented by the Eurasia Foundation and funded by UK Dev. Project partner — the BRDO Office of Effective Regulation.