The paper presents the results of the research on the parameters of psychological system of activity in university youth of Saint Petersburg in the context of innovativeness. Studying modern youth’s readiness for innovative activity is of considerable interest from the perspective of both their personal and professional development in higher education settings and the involvement of university youth in innovative activity in the leading higher education institutions of the country. The Self-Organization of Activity Questionnaire (Mandrikova, 2010), Differential Test of Reflection (Leontiev, Osin, 2014), EmIn Questionnaire (Lucin, 2009), Change Response Styles Questionnaire (Bazarov, Sycheva, 2012) were used as the research tools in the study. At the first stage the sample consisted of 244 second-year students of Saint Petersburg State University. The article discusses the results of correlation, factor and regression analyses. It was shown that important parameters for developing innovative qualities of modern university youth are the presence of goals, orientation to the present, the ability to systemic reflection and interpersonal emotional intelligence. Fixation on the performance of a task and propensity to planning can have a restraining effect on implementing young people’s personal readiness for innovative activity. The implementing style of response to changes is determined by both interpersonal and intrapersonal emotional intelligence as well as characterized by the existence of goals, the persistence in achieving them and orientation to the present. For the first time the study has shown a high significance of emotional intelligence as a parameter of the modern youth’s psychological system of activity in the context of developing their innovativeness.