The article is dedicated to the research and assessment of trust and partnership impact throughout the main authors of innovation cooperation - universities, business and state. This impact is put on the innovative cooperation’s development of the border region (Latvia-Lithuania-Belarus) and production of innovative products and services in that region. The research region is consisting of the regions of Latvia (Latgale region), Lithuania (Vilnius region, Alytus region, Utena region, Panevezys region, Kaunas region), Belarus (Vitebsk, Grodno region, Minsk region, Mogilev region). Lack of attention to the above issues, related with border region, stresses the importance of the article. Innovations are key factor in long-term economic development of the region. The main condition for development is a purposeful formation and effective functioning of the territorial innovation system, in which one of the factors of its successful development is trust between participants of the system. The information base of the research is survey of 620 entrepreneurs of small and medium-sized enterprises in the border region.
Mining and metals production sector (MMPS) of Ukraine is one of the basic for the state’s economy. The sector’s output, as well as the gradual increase in production, gives reason for taking a favorable view of its development prospects. Until the mid-90s MMPS of Ukraine key representatives were separate companies that operated as independent legal entities. However, during 1999-2004 the MMPS enterprises integration into the structure of major private transnational financial industrial groups took place. Large-scale consolidation of major enterprises that occurred in order to adapt to market conditions contributed to the emergence of business combination referred to as holding company. In the future, Ukrainian iron and steel companies’ competitiveness in the world market will be largely determined by the scope of their participation in the global consolidation processes. Their future directly depends on the rate of large corporations’ formation and restructuring, including changes in the mechanisms of corporate governance. This is one of the most important ways to improve the efficiency of the national iron and steel industry.