According to the authors, the main disadvantage of current theoretical approaches to the concept "innovative project" is that they ignore the fact that an innovative project is a complex system representing a combination of resources, deadlines and contractors for implementation of a complex of interrelated tasks. Furthermore, they do not take into account that it aims to achieve ultimate goals in various fields of science and technology development.An innovative project is not an economic system (structure), because it does not have its own domestic resource. Each project is unique, has a limited duration and one-off nature. This is its distinctive feature from the standpoint of the research. In this regard, the competitiveness of an innovative project has a specific nature and meaning, which differs from traditional views on the competitiveness of an economic system.According to the authors, competitiveness of an innovative project is the quality of its content that makes the project to be capable to have all possible effects and effectiveness to all interested parties at each stage of its life cycle. It is determined with a value chain consisted of the external and internal basis of a project (competitiveness advantages / disadvantages) in all stages of its life cycle.