The article presents approaches to definition of the concepts "innovation" and "innovation project". The concept "innovation" has been the subject of scientific discussion for a few years. The first and the most accurate definition of the "innovation process" was given by the Austrian economist J. Schumpeter. Later, in 1930, he and G. Mensch determined "innovation" as an embodiment of scientific discovery into a new technology or product. All further studies in this field were connected with this first definition of "innovation", though revealing its broader understanding. Thus, having analyzed the works of foreign and Russian scientists researching innovation activity from the beginning of the 20th century, the author has determined three approaches to the concept "innovation". They are "innovation as a result", "innovation as a process", and "innovation as a modification". The author’s research has also revealed the regularities due to which Russian and foreign scientific schools are affected by one of these approaches while defining the concept "innovation". This regularity is proved by official documents and legislative acts that also define the concept "innovation" as referred to one of these approaches. The concept "innovation project", in comparison with the concept "innovation", appeared much later in scientific scope. As a rule all the definitions of "innovation project" have a common sense load, but there are some exceptions because of the variety and controversion of the concept "innovation" itself. Thus, the absence of the conventional approach to the definition of the given economical categories specifies the main goal of the article. The author has to analyze the definitions of the most prominent representatives of scientific schools researching the problems of innovation economics, and to outline the author's approach to the definitions of the abovementioned concepts.