Competitiveness Clusters – Paradigm For Economic Development Of The Republic Of Croatia

The accession of Croatia to the EU has obliged the public sector to seriously reconsider its strategic approach to development priorities and how they are achieved, as the ad hoc solutions until now are more reactions to the changes in the economic environment, than they are the result of strategic planning of long-term goals. Although the economy of Croatia as a small country is inevitably dependent on exogenous processes, it is also evident that since the creation of the independent state, political elites have not reached a consensus on the development agenda and economic development goalsthey desire. In order to secure access to European Union cofinancing for economic-development activities, the Croatian Government was asked to present to the European Commission an economic development plan for a financial perspective on 2014 – 2020. They selected the Smart Specialization Strategy to advance the development of twelve sectors of the economy that are deemed the sectors with the highest competitiveness potential. Further development of these sectors is stimulated through creation of competitiveness clusters designed to enable a triple-helix cooperation model connecting the scientific and public sector, and the economic actors. Their cooperation creates a framework which enables the scientific sector to better understand the needs of the economy and to link its research agenda with these needs, foster faster transfer of innovation and new technologies into the real sector, and educate public policy makers to create an enabling environment to intensify this cooperation. Activities in the development of competitivness clusters up until now have not been sufficient to ensure a full functioning of the triple-helix model. To prove this hypothesis, we conducted a study, the results of which show why the Croatian economy has still not managed to create competitiveness clusters. The ideas we gained through the study should serve as guidelines to decision makers at different levels for more effective implementation of the activities for the development of competitiveness clusters in the Republic of Croatia. The methods employed in the study comprise methods of analysis, synthesis, induction and deduction, as well as a descriptive and a compilation method.