The concept of innovation is discussed from the point of view of political economy and the theory of technological structures. The process of creating innovations is considered. The task of existence and search for the optimal process of implementation of the complex of works is formalized. It is assumed that two types of resources are distributed - renewable (Performers, machines, devices) and non-renewable (finance, electricity, combustible materials, RAM assigned to certain software modules). The linear dependence of the duration of tasks on the amount of non-renewable resource allocated to them is known. For the case when interruptions and switching from one Performer to another are allowed when performing tasks, an algorithm of linear complexity has been developed. Analytical expressions are obtained for the minimum volume of a non-renewable resource with a fixed directive period, as well as for the minimum directive period with a fixed volume of a non-renewable resource, for which there is an acceptable schedule. For the case when tasks do not allow interrupts and switches, and the number of processors is fixed, an algorithm of pseudo-polynomial complexity has been developed. These indicators can serve as criteria for the effectiveness of innovation.