The analysis of legislative and doctrinal approaches to the concept of cooperation in the sphere of innovation reveals a lack of uniformity. The uncertainty surrounding its constituent elements enables the author to identify a number of deficiencies in the legal regulation of the relevant social relations. Based on the findings of the study, the author distinguishes the stages of the innovation process according to the life-cycle phases of intellectual property outputs and presents a system of civil-law models for interaction among the subjects of innovation activity. Within this system, and drawing on strategic planning instruments in the field of the country's technological development, the author classifies the models of interaction among such subjects into contractual and organizational legal models. They include models not involving the establishment of legal entities, models involving the establishment of legal entities, and models aimed at developing their organizational structure.