Innovation Europe > News > Innovation EU Vol1-1 > Romania

Romania’s innovation performance remains, however, very weak compared to other EU countries. It is part of the “catching–up” group of countries, displaying a positive economic trend based predominantly on low-cost labour and low value-added exports, but also a low level of innovation infrastructure and mechanisms, which are still at an early development stage and do not contribute significantly to economic growth. Most innovation indicators illustrate this “catching-up” trend, except for ICT expenditure, tertiary education, business R&D and EPO patents.

The innovative profile of Romanian firms is still very low: over 80% of noninnovator firms, next to approximately 10% of intermittent innovator firms and a small percentage of strategic innovator, adopter and modifier firms. Innovative firms account for less than a fifth of the country’s total number of active firms and workforce, and for about 42% of the total turnover of active firms. Innovative firms are predominantly SMEs (83.4%) and operate mainly in industry (73%), while the rest are active in services (trade, real estate, transport and communications). This situation is to a large extent the result of a very low level of public funding of innovation, with only 10% of innovative firms receiving funding, and very low levels of innovation expenditures, which don’t exceed 3% of innovative firms’ turnover. Although significant progress has been made in order to foster the weak innovation culture in the country, further measures are needed to increase application of R&D results by business and to turn innovation into a driver of national competitiveness.

Main innovation policy challenges

• Increase business R&D expenditure and strengthen the innovative potential of enterprises, particularly SMEs.
• Improve innovation and business support infrastructure (business incubators, technology transfer offices, S&T Parks, and so on).
• Improve industry partnerships.

Action

Romania has started implementing the objectives defined in the 2007 National RDI Strategy, which aims for an innovation-based economic competitiveness of the country in the post-accession period. National RDI objectives are closely linked to the ERA objectives and priority areas, and national funding is increasingly complemented by European resources, so that the most significant future actions and opportunities for policy learning are closely related to strengthening Romania’s internal resources for RDI and its position in the ERA.

The most significant developments and trends in innovation policies include:

• Infrastructure development in RDI units and universities, and improved delivery of specialised S&T services in high-tech areas.
• Stronger human resources for RDI through better correlation between national and European funding provided by the Research of Excellence programme (CEEX).
• Higher efficiency of public spending by better correlation among RDI, industrial, fiscal and competition policies.
• Better use of Structural Funds for RDI channelled through Priority Axis 2 of the SOP-IEC.
• Strengthening the international competitiveness of the Romanian RDI system and international collaboration, especially within the European Research Area (ERA).