Abstract
The Republic of Kazakhstan has adopted the State Program of Industrial and Innovative Development for 2020-2025, the purpose of which is to achieve the competitiveness of the manufacturing industry in the domestic and foreign markets. The success of the implementation of this program largely depends on the combined efforts of university science, the potential of research institutes, business, with state support in the field of budget financing and in other areas. The purpose of the study is to identify the challenges facing the modern Kazakh higher education system in the context of economic modernization to increase its sustainability and competitiveness. In this regard, special attention is paid to the innovative component of any field of activity. The article, based on the study of world experience, identifies the main problems that hinder innovation activity at universities in Kazakhstan and provides recommendations on how to overcome them. As the pace of discovery and competition accelerates at the global level, universities are creating a culture in which entrepreneurship and innovative thinking are encouraged. Students under the guidance of teachers actively develop startups, striving to change society for the better by participating in social entrepreneurship. Innovative activities of universities are accompanied by the establishment of partnerships with leading companies and research institutes. The article presents the experience of leading universities in the USA, as well as universities in Central and Eastern Europe, Tokyo University (Japan) to increase the innovation activity of Kazakhstani universities. Traditional methods of analysis and synthesis, logical thinking, systematization and generalization of accumulated material were used to uncover the issues under study.