CLUSTERS FOR GROWTH, PROSPERITY AND COMPETITIVENESS – A CHALLENGE FOR ROMANIAN

INDUSTRIAL POLICY

PANEL IClusters as a driving engine for

competitiveness & prosperity in the region10 – 11 April 2014, Sofia

Romania documents for the next programming period 2014-2020• National Competitiveness Strategy• Analysis and evidence base of the R&D&I market in Romania made by Jaspers

Ireland and ARUP Romania• Clusters and smart specialization - World Bank - West Region• National Reform Program• National R&D&I Strategy• Industrial Policy Document (Romania is now in a process of elaborating a new

industrial policy document with elements of reindustrialization based on competitiveness and innovation)

• Romanian Cluster Mapping• Cluster Guide• Contribution to the revision of EU State Aid Rules for Innovation • In order to promote and to support innovation, clusters are a critical element of

national and regional policy to foster the competitiveness.

"Vision without action is a daydream.Action without vision is a nightmare"

Japanese proverb

Analysis and Evidence Base of the R&D&I Market in Romania (Jaspers – Recommendations Report)

The ARUP Ireland assignment is within the context of establishing a Smart Specialization Strategy (RIS3), which is a pre-condition for accessing funding under the thematic priority for research and development within the 2014 to 2020 European Structural Funds. This strategy development will be led by the MoE who currently have responsibility for the Research and Development thematic priority of the structural funds

The emerging clusters will be financed in the next programming period by the Operational Regional Program and innovative clusters and poles of competitiveness (networks of clusters) by the Operational program for Increasing the Economic Competitiveness.

The ARUP assignment has analyzed the evidence base of Romanian research and development expertise (supply side) and the competitiveness of the Romanian economy (demand side), to understand the linkage and correlation between research and development with business performance within the innovation system.

Guidance is structured around a 6 practical steps: 1. Analysing the innovation potential; 2. Setting out the RIS3 process and governance; 3. Developing a shared vision;4. Identifying the priorities; 5. Defining an action plan with a coherent policy mix;6. Monitoring and evaluating

World Bank engagement in the RIS 3 Agenda in Romania–”Competitiveness Enhancement and

Smart Specialization Policies in the Romania West Region”

Two complementary activities:• Competitiveness assessment of services and goods

producers in the West Region• Sector smart specialization case studies• Main objective: identification of policy measures,

interventions and smart specialization niches that can help nurture the region’s growth potential

ROMANIAN CLUSTER POLICY

• Cluster policies can make a significant contribution to the definition of Smart Specialization Strategy having an innovation driven development strategy in place that focuses on each region’s strength and competitive advantage.

• It’s about specializing in a smart way: i.e. based on evidence and strategic intelligence about a region’s assets and the capability to learn what specializations can be developed in relation to those of other regions.

• For example, in our West region we develop the fields of automotive, ICT, renewable energies and creative industries and in the North East the fields of textiles, agro-food, tourism. They have already accessed structural funds in order to develop their activities, even by developing cross border clusters.

At national level we identified the potential of innovation of each region based on various factors (level of technologies used, skills and competences, clusters existed etc.) and the regions use these strategic instruments in a smart way into their development. Two Romanian regions (West and North East are members of the European RIS Platform.

Sectoral Operation Program „ Increase of economic competitiveness”

Priority Axis 1: An innovative and eco-efficient productionKey Area of Intervention 3: Sustainable development of entrepreneurship

Development of business support structures of national and international scale (poles of competitiveness) – 60 million euros – 16 applicants

Support of attracting SMEs into supply chains and clusters- 20 million euros – 23 applicants

Both calls are open.

“Sometimes, at least at the starting point of building innovation strategy, we have to think also at financing.”

Project SEENECOSouth East Europe Network of Excellence for Cluster Organizations

Partners:• Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism from Bulgaria• Chamber of Commerce&Industry of Croatia• Ministry of Economy, www.minind.ro, Romania• Ministry of Economy & Regional Development from Serbia• National Agency for Regional Development from Serbia

Objectives: -The development of an European portfolio of cluster organisations that will be further used as an

important instrument towards developing world class clusters in Europe-Provide clusters with information on the possibilities of developing of a benchmarking approach in

their programs for improving their performance, gaining knowledge and learning. Benchmarking is a tool that can be easily integrated in the strategic management of the cluster.

-The implementation of a procedure of comparing the structure, processes, level of development, methods and services provided between clusters.

- Training of cluster management.

Project ClusterPoliSEESmarter Cluster Policies for South East Europe

Partner countries: Austria, Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Albania, Croatia, Serbia, Republic of Moldova.

Objectives:– To better prioritise Member State’s cluster policies towards the needs of

world-class clusters in the EU– To better provide Member States and regions with neutral and reliable

information about clusters– More and better practical cooperation at policy level between Member

States– To better integrate innovative SMEs into clusters and the Lead Market

Initiative– To rise the quality of cluster management all over Europe.

The Danube Strategy:

The Danube Region Strategy addresses a wide range of issues; these are divided among 4 pillars and 11 priority areas. Each priority area is managed by a Priority Area Coordinator.

• Priority Area 1A — To improve mobility and intermodality: inland waterways is coordinated by Austria and Romania.

• Priority Area 1B - To improve mobility and intermodality - rail, road and air is coordinated by Slovenia and Serbia.

• Priority Area 2 - To encourage more sustainable energy is coordinated by Hungary and the Czech Republic.

• Priority Area 03 - To promote culture and tourism, people to people contacts is coordinated by Bulgaria and Romania.

• Priority Area 4 - To restore and maintain the quality of waters is coordinated by Hungary and Slovakia.

• Priority Area 05 -To manage environmental risks is coordinated by Hungary (Ministry of Rural Development) and Romania (Ministry of Environment and Forests).

• Priority Area 06 - To preserve biodiversity, landscapes and the quality of air and soils is coordinated by the Land Bavaria (Germany) and Croatia.

• Priority Area 07 - To develop the Knowledge Society (research, education and ICT) is coordinated by Slovakia and Serbia.

• Priority Area 08 -To support the competitiveness of enterprises including cluster development is coordinated by the Land Baden-Württemberg (Germany) and Croatia.

• Priority Area 09 - To invest in people and skills is coordinated by Austria and Moldova.

• Priority Area 10 - To step up institutional capacity and cooperation is coordinated by the City of Vienna (Austria) and Slovenia

• Priority Area 11 - To work together to tackle security and organised crime is coordinated by Germany and Bulgaria.

• All the priority areas suppose the involvement of a wide network of key players and stakeholders from the 14 countries of the Danube Region.

We invite you to cooperate with ICT Clusters in Romania!

Cluster Field of activity

Postal code

City Street Contact person

1 ICT Regional Cluster ICT 300054 Timisoara 5,Proclamatia de la Timisoara

Sorin MaximT: +40 256-491923Email:office@adrvest.ro

2 ICT – Regional Competitiveness Pole Oltenia Cluster

ICT 200130 Craiova 12, Stefan cel Mare Gabriel VladutT:+40 722715604E-mail:office@ipacv.ro

3 IT New Media Iasi IT Media 700671OF12

Iasi 10, Bv.PoitiersSC Fortus(Nucleus EA8)

Marius AlexaTel: 0040-745501941Email:marius.alexa@arhipelago.com

4 Cluj IT Cluster ICT 400221 Cluj Napoca Parcul Industrial Tetarom

Andrei Kelemen Tel:+40 755122057E-mail: andrei.kelemen@clujit.roMarcel Borodi Tel.0040-744501503E-mail:marcel.borodi@brinel.roEmail:aries.transilvania@gmail.com

Proposals of further cooperation between Bulgaria and Romania within Horizon2020, COSME, INTERREG

We invite you to reflect on some issues that could be future projects for clusters development in South-East, Balkan and Black Sea Region

• Integrating social innovation in cluster initiatives• Preparatory exercise for train-the –trainers for cluster managers• Elaboration of a System for Accreditation and Excellence Benchmarking

for the benchmarking/evaluation of cluster initiatives

Thank you for your kind attention!

Gabriela Pirvu (gabriela_parvu@minind.ro) Mariana Voicu (mariana_voicu@minind.ro)

Christina Leucuta (christiana_leucuta@yahoo.com) Directorate of Industrial Policy & Competitiveness

Ministry of Economy, Romania