The concept of human capital through the prism of international economic relations and the problem of achieving sustainable development goals are considered in this paper. The value of HCI in the system of assessing the prospects for the development of human capital at the global level is shown. The characteristics of the relationship between HCI components and sustainable development goals are given. The analysis of the ranking of the countries of the world by the HCI is given. The features of the BRICS countries are revealed: despite the high potential for the development of human capital, it is not always used effectively, which is reflected in the implementation of the program to achieve sustainable development goals. It is shown that in modern conditions, the concept of sustainable development of human capital is of decisive methodological importance. It is based on the need to maintain a balance of various spheres of human life, reflecting, in fact, the quality of his life. The COVID-19 pandemic has strengthened the importance of anchoring the principles of this concept at the global level.

The need to address the tremendous technological and investment risks intrinsic to the stages of business structuring and drawing up a business model means that an optimal tool to support innovative start-ups is sought. Continuity of the innovation process depends on the efficiency of individual instruments of implementing innovation and indeed on the entire infrastructure. Foreign experiences have shown that an acceleration mechanism to support innovative projects with the appropriate involvement of all stakeholders can be effective. This approach is embodied in regional business catalysts, combining organizational, managerial, research and production, and technological competences of the various actors of the innovation process, thus reducing the 'seedbed' costs and improving the quality of projects at the riskiest stages of the innovation process. The article reveals the importance and place of regional business catalysts in the innovation infrastructure toolbox, in particular the role they play in helping newcomers overcome the so-called 'valley of death' and in aiding innovative companies find investment. Regional business catalysts do this by synchronizing and coordinating competences of regional participants of the innovation process on the basis of common standards and a transparent selection procedure. Business catalysts can also contribute to an overall revitalization of innovative activity in regions. Examples of regional business catalysts introduced in Russia suggest that the region’s high scientific and educational potential, the development of innovation infrastructure, and support of the authorities are key to catalysts’ effectiveness. A performance assessment of the first national business catalyst, launched in the region of Rostov in 2012, confirms the effectiveness of catalysts in establishing horizontal linkages between the regional business community and institutions supporting innovation at the local and federal level. The authors describe the objective difficulties faced by regional business catalysts that are driven by the specificities of the engineering and manufacturing expertise for some projects and the complexity in establishing cooperation with key institutions of regional innovation infrastructure. Future developments are suggested to consolidate business catalysts’ sectoral affiliation, to develop the networking aspects, ensure transparency of this mechanism, as well as expand partnerships between regional industry, academia, and government institutions to support innovative entrepreneurship.

Introduction. One of the most important tasks of the modern education system in Russia is the search for organizational forms that can meet the needs of the labor market, solve the problem of providing enterprises, especially high-tech ones, with personnel with deep fundamental knowledge and relevant practical skills. The answer to this request is the development of a dual education system that takes into account the modern realities of socio-economic development. The purpose of the work is to study the development of forms of organization of interaction between enterprises and educational organizations within the framework of dual education. Materials and methods. In order to study the significance and prospects for the development of the dual education system, a retrospective and comparative analysis, an ecosystem approach were used. The study involved 98 graduates of one of the basic departments of the Don State Technical University (Russian Federation), who studied from 2003 to 2020 and are currently working at a partner enterprise. For the purpose of comparative analysis and confirmation of the hypothesis about the impact of training at the basic department on the acceleration of professional adaptation, two groups of employees (35 people each) with work experience from three to ten years were also interviewed: those who studied at this department and those who did not study at it. The method of group expert assessments, questionnaires, the Mann-Whitney U-test are applied Results. A survey of employees of a large Russian industrial enterprise who studied at the basic department and did not study at it showed that the average period of professional adaptation of the first was about 4.9 months, which is more than twice less than the same period in the group of those who did not study at it. Similarly, the period of perception of the corporate culture of the enterprise: for those who studied at the basic department, it is more than two times shorter than for those who did not study at it. Both groups of respondents rated the importance of mentoring for young workers by 5 points on a 5-point scale. The Mann-Whitney U-criterion for assessing the period of professional adaptation is 108.5, for assessing the perception of corporate culture – 86.5 (at U0.01=413; U0.05=471). Conclusion. The results of the study allow us to conclude about the significance of the accumulated experience in the development of the domestic dual education system and its key institutional unit – the basic department at the partner enterprise. The prospects for the development of dual education are seen in the dissemination of the principle of lifelong learning. This principle presupposes the formation of a new model of dual education as part of a vocational education ecosystem that allows taking into account current and prospective personnel requirements of enterprises.

The solution of the problems of commercialization of university researches and development depends on effective functioning of innovative ecosystem of the university contributing to the transformation of scientific researches and development into a market product. This research work is devoted to the analysis of the problems of functioning of innovative ecosystem of the university. The objective of this research is a justification of innovation ecosystem significance and identification of its prospects in the development of commercialization of intellectual activity results in a higher educational institution. According to the authors, the prospects of development of innovative ecosystem of the university are considered in strategic development and interaction of its three basic components (constituents) which are carrying out stimulation of scientific researches, provision of their commercialization and formation of partnership organizational culture in total with necessary competences of innovative business. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n6s1p239