Investments in research and development: case study in Eastern Europe

Over time there have been diverse and continuous evolution ways of financial and economic development at the nation level. Today, the world development level results from an ongoing investment, in various forms. The different ways to invest and measure the effectiveness of investments have been the subject of discussions since the beginning of economic science, reaching today as they hold great significance to leverage the dynamic development and economic growth, as the great inequalities, data asymmetry information, in the actual state. It is generally acknowledged the significant contribution of investment in research and development on productivity growth as a major determinant of competitiveness and economic growth. So, the countries need to develop an absorptive or national learning capacity to attract investors in research and development field. In this paper we propose to consider first the role of investment in the creation of competitive advantage in the second part we present EU funded programs in research and development implemented in Romania and in the third part is the situation investments in during 2004-2011 in Eastern Europe through the use of specific indicators (public expenditure on R&D, business expenditure on research and development). Special attention will be given to analyzing the situation of Romania in the European context and to identify possible solutions to close the gaps that exist towards countries with optimal intensity of investments in research and development.