The regional innovation policy’s forming mechanisms in Central and Eastern European countries with transitional economics

The paper deals with theoretical foundations of transformation processes in the regional innovation policy of the Central and Eastern European countries (CEE). The paper’s aim is to analyze the main principles of the transformational processes in the regional innovation policy of the CEE countries, as well as to substantiate the theoretical basis for the innovation development’s modern stage. Today, mechanisms for the formation and implementation of regional innovation policy cannot be carried out only on the basis of market self-regulation. The development and implementation of regional innovation policy is now an important task for its socio-economic development. Therefore, the main objective of today is the problem of finding effective tools for the development of an innovative economy at the regional level. Thus, the relevance of the research topic is no doubt. The special emphasis in the paper is on the analysis of neo-Schumpeterian approach as a theoretical basis for the regional innovation policy’s formation and implementation in CEE countries. The introduction of this approach is the paper’s scientific novelty. The paper uses general scientific and specific scientific methods , namely analysis’ and synthesis’ methods, statistical analysis, logical and empirical cognition, and applied a systematic approach in the presentation of the material, which made it possible to solve the paper’s tasks. Conclusions. Analyzing all of the above, the CEE’s economies at different development’s stages differ in their ability to use and create knowledge. The neo-Schumpeterian approach is suitable for most transition economies. In extreme cases, simply adopting an innovative policy for developed countries and transferring them to countries with economies in transition may be a more restraining factor than activity as a catalyst for the growth of knowledge. Similarly, greater attention should be paid to improving the formation of human capital in universities, which focuses heavily on academic patenting rather than education and training of future entrepreneurs and labor force.