Criteria for the formation of innovative mentality and spiritual and moral qualities of young people

The paper is devoted to fostering the innovative thinking of students in technical and scientific spheres. The research, aimed at finding the ways for fostering the students’ innovative thinking, incorporates the definition and analysis of innovative mentality, including its cognitive and instrumental components, and various characteristics such as creative, theoretical, social, constructive, transformative, and pragmatic ones, which constitute a complex structure of innovative thinking.