Innovation as a factor of sustainable development of socio-economic systems

Active transition of the international community to the innovative type of economy, in which the main share of gross domestic product is provided by production and sale of high technology products, causes the emergence of interest in sustainable development of the state, regions and enterprises through innovation. The article explains the concept and essence of economic, ecological and social innovation, ensuring sustainable development of socioeconomic systems. The focus of the article is on the necessity to address the problem of sustainable development on the basis of innovation activity of the systems through introducing basic and improving innovation. Furthermore, the study considers three levels of sustainable development: sustainable development of the state, sustainable regional development and sustainable development of enterprises. Sustainable development of the state is influenced by innovation activity of regions, whose sustainable development is provided by innovative organizations/enterprises. Sustainable development of organizations/enterprises, in its turn, depends on their innovation activity and activity of staff. At each level innovation allows for addressing the problems of this level. The article also shows the effects of the development, introduction and application of economic, environmental and social innovation at different levels. The increase in the number of environmental issues, the economic impact of natural and man-made disasters, the problems of social sphere, the rapid reduction of natural resources necessitates advanced development of some specific areas of scientific and technological research and development ("clean" energetics, biotechnology, genomic medicine, new technologies in agriculture, environment-friendly materials, green innovations, etc.). To answer these challenges, Russia needs to provide deeper integration into the global innovation system, increase the intensity of introduction of scientific research and foster innovation activity of organizations/enterprises.