Investment-innovative processes have a considerable influence on the economy of Ukrainian-Polish cross-border region. They define the ability of adjacent border regions of Ukraine and Poland to accumulate enough human and financial capital in order to form and increase their own investment and innovative capacity. Meanwhile, under current social and economic conditions, social and psychological environment has increasing influence on the efficiency of this capacity exploitation. It includes major social groups attracted into cross-border cooperation process as well as the established forms of business relations between them and cultural norms, which define their features and application efficiency in cross-border goods exchange and in terms of cross-border investment-innovative projects’ implementation.
Opportunistic behaviour, which has the most significant destructive influence on the efficiency of exploitation of investment-innovative capacity of Ukrainian-Polish cross-border region’s development, is emphasized. In particular, principal defining factors and major extension mechanisms of main types of opportunistic behaviour in Ukrainian-Polish cross-border region are outlined. These include information asymmetries, corruption and smuggling, illegal cross-border operations peculiar to modern forms of border trade and small border movement, cross-border circular migration as well as activity of cross-border institutions in Ukrainian-Polish cross-border region.
The means of opportunistic behaviour elimination in the context of social-psychological environment improvement in Ukrainian-Polish cross-border region and increase of its investment-innovative capacity are suggested. Special attention is paid to improvement of the capacity of human and social capital, elimination of corruption, adaptation of modern organization-economic means and institutional leverages of investment-innovative capacity increase in the regions of Ukraine adjacent to Poland, in particular cross-border clusters, cross-border educational, training and scientific centers, cross-border networks of technologies transfer and knowledge exchange and cross-border business incubators, etc.
Particular attention is paid to the necessity to conclude the administrative-territorial and educational reform in Ukraine. The author proves the fact that these reforms are intended to lay institutional foundations for the development of social-psychological environment in Ukrainian-Polish cross-border cooperation and therefore to bring the state’s border regions closer to the requirements and standards of the EU in order to give new impetus for activation of investment-innovative processes and to increase investment-innovative capacity of Ukrainian-Polish cross-border region’s development. 

socio-psychological environment, Ukrainian-Polish cross-border region, investment-innovation capacity, cross-border cooperation, opportunistic behavior 

The role of border areas in the formation of investment-innovation potential of Ukrainian-Polish cross-border region is demonstrated. The positive impact of near border location of the territory to attract foreign direct investment is investigated. The main attention is focused on the socio-psychological factors, in particular, the quality of human and social capital. Identified that the existing investment-innovation potential of the Ukrainian-Polish cross-border region is not fully used, most of the investment does not have the innovative nature. It is established that the main causes of the existing problems are: inadequate quality of human capital, institutional dysfunctions and high levels of labor migration. To strengthen of investment-innovation practices within the Ukrainian-Polish cross-border region is offered to improve the quality of provision of educational services and to ensure the development of innovation infrastructure in the border areas of Ukraine. 

border areas, Ukrainian-Polish cross-border region, investment-innovation practices, socio-psychological factors