Impact of Clusters on Innovation, Knowledge and Competitiveness in the Romanian Economy

The concept of clusters has become extremely popular in the recent years, as more and more practitioners and theorists refer to it.From my point of view, clusters are the ideal structure for some companies to build their skills, knowledge and know-how together. To the same extent, this form of organization enables the creation of common structures / facilities, which allows the smaller firms or the ones that lack experience to learn from the ones with more experience and to benefit from their more advanced capabilities, and thus to grow together. Moreover, the participation, collaboration and cooperation of universities, institutes, research centers and other organizations/entities inside a cluster undoubtedly leads to the growth of the economic development of the region, from which the cluster is part of. In the case of Romania, the eight development regions could greatly benefit from the formation and implementation of clusters. With the shift to a knowledge-based economy and society, the difference, made by clusters and creative networks that promote innovation, is now clear. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to outline the benefits that can come from the development of clusters, and to highlight the impact of clusters on innovation, knowledge and competitiveness in the Romanian Economy.