Volodymyr Lugovyi
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1650-066X
Olena Slyusarenko
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7957-1794
Zhanneta Talanova
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4007-2677
UNIVERSITIES’ INNOVATION POTENTIAL: THE BALANCE BETWEEN GENERATING AND DISSEMINATING THE NEW
Full text (pdf)
Language: Ukrainian
Abstract. The article analyses universities’ innovation potential within their global network (over 32 thousand higher education institutions (HEIs), collectively referred to as universities) in terms of their ability to generate and disseminate the complex new. It is proposed that, where generation dominates, institutions should be classified as first-type universities (generative universities); where dissemination dominates, as second-type universities; and institutions capable of disseminating only the simple new, as third-type universities. The Shanghai Ranking, with its overall (Academic Ranking of World Universities, ARWU) and subject-specific (Global Ranking of Academic Subjects, GRAS) versions, was used to measure university innovation potential. It was found that the ability to generate the complex new decreases sharply as an institution’s ranking declines. It is argued that the following innovation-based distribution of institutions within their network is statistically reliable: first-type universities – up to 1%, second-type universities – 98%, and third-type universities – about 1%. Due to the high level of complexity of the innovative product of generative universities, they are limited in its dissemination by the small number of partners with an adequate scientific and technological level / paradigm and by the slower consumption of the complex new by less developed entities. To increase the effectiveness of innovative interaction, formal and informal elite associations of top HEIs objectively emerge. The study found that approximately after the second / third hundred groups in the ARWU ranking, the dissemination of the new begins to dominate in universities, while the complexity of the new being created decreases. In this case, dissemination is facilitated by the growing number of parity recipients. At the same time, in the group of HEIs with limited research capacity, the risk increases and a de facto barrier associated with the non-acceptance of the complex new arises. A conceptual model of the innovation activity of Harvard University has been substantiated, which can serve as a reference point for general strategising for the development of generative universities, particularly in Ukraine in the context of its European integration and post-war recovery.
Keywords: innovation, universities’ innovation potential, generating and disseminating the new, the complex and the simple new, barriers to the dissemination of the new, ranking-based measurement of innovativeness, post-war recovery and European integration.
https://doi.org/10.32987/2617-8532-2026-3-50-65
Keywords: innovation, universities’ innovation potential, generating and disseminating the new, the complex and the simple new, barriers to the dissemination of the new, ranking-based measurement of innovativeness, post-war recovery and European integration.
https://doi.org/10.32987/2617-8532-2026-3-50-65
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Received: [25.05.2026]
Reviewed: [18.07.2026]
Accepted: [31.07.2026]
Published: [31.08.2026]
