This article addresses the ways to increase the competitiveness of the engineering business through the use of different types of innovation. The link between the competitiveness and innovations seems to be frequently mentioned among engineering companies. It is not surprising, since the engineering activity is one of the fast growing areas in the economies of developed countries. On the other hand, the specific nature of innovations in engineering is still not sufficiently covered in scientific publications. One relatively unexplored question is to what degree various types of innovation determine the competitiveness of engineering projects. The aim of this study was to identify to what degree the use of different types of innovation influences the level of competitiveness in the engineering business. In this article, the authors improve the definitions of engineering as a kind of intellectual activity; reveal the role and types of innovations observed in this field. The authors also show the role of a customer in the selection of innovations for engineering services. The authors conducted a field research and collected the answers from the representatives of engineering companies in Russia.