Formation and development of the knowledge economy as a precondition for the country's competitiveness.

The paper considers the interdependence between the formation of the country's economy based on knowledge, its competitiveness and pace of economic development. Shows the ranking of countries in the Global Competitiveness Index and the indices that characterize the knowledge economy. On the basis of a comparative analysis concluded that the country's competitiveness level depends on scientific and technological development, and the states leading the global innovation space were singled out. With the help of comparative analysis of positioning on the index of the knowledge economy and knowledge index makes it possible to distinguish knowledge exporting countries and knowledge importing countries. A cluster analysis made it possible to establish that the orientation of the economy more towards the production and export of knowledge leads to the acceleration of economic growth and competitiveness, and to identify the tendency of increasing of the share of exporting knowledge countries. This paper uses a methodology of World Economic Forum for assessing the country's competitiveness index, the World Bank methodology expertise of knowledge economy and other methodologies to assess the level of innovation development of economy of the world.