Ukraine’s integration into the global market has a clear resource-oriented nature, as agricultural products remain the dominant component of domestic merchandise exports. This urges the need to diversify the structure of exports and increase the share of high-tech and medium-tech industries. Given the structural heterogeneity of the formation of domestic merchandise exports in the regional context, the research in this direction is relevant. The purpose of the article is to identify key changes in the export specialization of the regions of Ukraine and to group the latter according to the level of their export activities. Based on the assessment of the structure of merchandise exports of Ukraine and its regions, the export specialization of the latter by commodity groups is determined. The diagnostic study of export activities at the meso-level results from the calculation of indicators that characterize: export orientation of the economy (calculated as the ratio between the value of merchandise exports of the region and gross regional product), export coverage of imports (calculated as the ratio between the values of merchandise exports and merchandise imports of the region), export manufacturability (calculated as the ratio between the values of high-tech exports of the region and merchandise exports in general), the high-tech export orientation of the industry (calculated as the ratio between the value of high-tech exports of the region and the volume of sold industrial products). The regions are divided into four conditional groups according to the level of their export activities, based on the values of the integrated index calculated by the method of the arithmetic mean of partial indicators. Some key trends and problems in the formation and development of Ukraine’s export potential are outlined. Emphasis is placed on the high share of products made from toll raw materials within the high-tech merchandise exports of the vast majority of regions of the Western region. Measures for the implementation of an efficient state policy of export promotion are proposed and their targets are defined. 

merchandise exports, structure, commodity group, specialization, export activities, export manufacturability, production 

The article examines modern theoretical and applied approaches to evaluating the competitiveness of regions. The competitiveness of a region implies its ability to win in a competition with other regions to attract and create new inputs, while providing competitive advantages in economic growth and living standards. In the world practice a variety of methods are widely used for assessing the economy developing on innovative principles.
For this reason, the article aims to substantiate the essential characteristics of the concept «innovation potential of competitiveness of regions» of Ukraine, including the border regions, its assessment methods to apply in developing strategic priorities, means and forms of increasing competitiveness in the new phase of European integration.
It is determined that at present the EU priorities of innovation development are: formation of an innovative economy, intellectualization of the society, increasing the role of innovation as a factor of improving competitiveness, moving the innovation policy centre to the level of regions.
The necessity of improving the competitiveness of Ukraine’s border areas in terms of European integration is justified. The importance of ensuring the competitiveness of the border regions in the country is determined by a number of aspects arising from the role and functions of these areas in the overall development of the country. Border regions have natural advantages over the internal with regard to expanding international cooperation, attracting foreign investments, applying some good practices and implementing joint projects.
The article presents an analytical estimation of Ukrainian regions’ innovation potential competitiveness. The results show the highest values of efficiency in Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhia and Lviv regions, while the lowest indexes are in Zakarpattia and Lugansk regions. Border regions of Ukraine are both among the leaders and the outsiders of the list.
The analysis evaluating the efficiency of using innovation potential as a production system shows that the innovation potential is the most effectively used mainly in border areas such as Volyn, Zakarpattia, Lugansk and Rivne regions.
It is stressed out that the efficiency and the dynamics of innovation processes directly depend on the degree to which the environment is favourable for innovation activities in a particular region. The results of the research enable to elaborate a set of measures to enhance the competitiveness of the border regions on innovative principles. Cooperation in the areas of innovation, science and technology as well as studying the experience and adapting European principles of innovative activities remain important factors in increasing the innovation potential of border regions of Ukraine. 

innovation, innovative activity, competitiveness of the region, border region, European integration