Nstitutional Safeguarding of Functional Expanding of Regional Scientific Centers of NAS of Ukraine and MES of Ukraine in the Context of Smart Specialisation (on the Example of the Prydniprovskyi Economic Area)

With the signing of the Association Agreement bet­ween Ukraine and the EU, the amendment of the Constitution of Ukraine regarding the implementation of Ukraine's strategic course towards gaining full membership in the EU, approvement the National Security Strategy of Ukraine, in which European integration is recognized as the main direction of development of the Ukrainian state, Ukraine made the civilisational choice. The implementation of this civilizational choice obliges Ukraine to follow the path of the implementation of European integration reforms, to adopt the rules, norms and practices of the EU for successful integration into the European space and the system of formal institutions of the EU. This, among other things, concerns the need to implement the European approach to territorial division and regional policy, the introduce the smart specialisation approach into the system of strategic planning for regional development. The development of regional innovation ecosystems and the building of effective relationships between all their actors play a decisive role in the successful implementation of smart specialisation strategies. The system of interrelationships between the actors of the regional innovation ecosystem of the Prydniprovskyi economic area is analysed for their presence and intensity in comparison with other regions and Ukraine as a whole. It has been determined that both national and regional innovation ecosystems of Ukraine (including the Prydniprovskyi economic area) lack effective relationships between their key actors. The scientific and institutional provisions and recommendations for the formation of regional innovation ecosystems at the level of economic regions of Ukraine that meet the requirements of the European classification NUTS 1, in the context of the implementation of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU and the smart specialisation approach, have been substantiated. They are the following: to empower of Regional Scientific Centers of NAS of Ukraine and MES of Ukraine with additional powers to coordinate relations between actors of regional innovation ecosystems within the areas of their action, as well as to amend and supplement of the Law of Ukraine «On Scientific and Scientific and Technology Activities» to expand the functions and powers of Regional Scientific Centers, turning them into effective interregional focal points for innovative development. An approach to the formation of the Podillya regional innovation ecosystem within the Podillya economic area has been proposed. On the basis of the Prydniprovskyi Scientific Center of NAS of Ukraine and MES of Ukraine, it has been proposed to implement several experiments, firstly, on the formation of the Prydniprovskyi regional innovation ecosystem; secondly, on the creation of interregional public union «Platform for innovative development «Pridneprovie»», which can become a «factory of thought» on ways and means of restarting relations between actors of the regional innovation ecosystem and neo-industrial revival of the Prydniprovskyi economic area.