The article deals with the issues of research on the definition of Hard skills and Soft skills of the labor potential of university graduates from the standpoint of the development of innovative and competitive skills and their compliance with the needs of the region's business.

Tasks are proposed to improve the available resources, with a focus on the needs of the labor market for small businesses, which must be solved to increase the demand for the quality of educational services.

Innovative thinking, small business, innovative interest

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Innovative activity of companies in Uzbekistan. Internet portal of the CIS. https://e-cis.info/news

Namazova N.D. (2022). Ways to improve the quality components of the use of the labor potential of small businesses. Journal of new century innovations, 3(2), 197–206. http://wsrjournal.com/index.php/new/article/view/422

Namazova, N. D. (2022). The place of a modern university in the development of a regional innovation system. Gospodarka i Innowacje., 24, 916-925. http://www.gospodarkainnowacje.pl/index.php/poland/article/view/686

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Avvisati, Francesco, Gwenaël Jacotin, and Stéphan Vincent-Lancrin. 2014. “Educating Higher Education Students for Innovative Economies: What International Data Tell Us.” Tuning Journal for Higher Education 1(1), 223-40. https://doi.org/10.18543/tjhe-1(1)-2013pp223-240.

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