KNOWLEDGE AND INNOVATION AS A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE OF REPUBLIC OF CROATIA

Knowledge and investment in innovation is becoming the main criteria of competitiveness. The purpose of this paper is to examine concepts of knowledge, innovation and competitiveness. To prove the stated, comparative analysis was conducted on Eurostat data on EU public expenditure on education. Further analysis involved the data of employed and unemployed persons depending on the completed educational program in Croatia. Furthermore, a benchmarking of countries' innovation performance was carried out based on the Global Innovation Index, the Bloomberg Innovation Index and the European Innovation Scoreboard. The aim was to determine the most competitive economies compared to Croatia. The third analysis included innovation performance of Croatian companies. The contribution of the paper is visible in the analysis of the theoretical determination of knowledge and its development completed with the list of future jobs. The importance of the paper is reflected in the necessity of creating strategies corresponding to the future.