Turning Ideas into Money. Which Ideas and whom Money?
Author:Andreea Vass
JEL:O31, O38
DOI:
Keywords:technological change, R&D, business innovation, fiscal incentives
Abstract:
Romania plays no part in the world technological race. In the last three decades, we
have lost the technological leadership role in the oil industry, simply because the
communist regime was reluctant to encourage the growth of information
technology in general, and personal computers in particular. Sadly, we failed to
close the technological gap in the post-communist era. Only one in five Romanian
companies currently introduces a new product, service, technology, etc., or brings
about innovative business practices. This rate represents half of the European
average. We are lagging one decade behind the Czech Republic and Estonia, and
two decades behind the rest of the European Union.We did find, however, a
number of successful initiatives, rewarded at international innovation and trade
shows. Unfortunately, the overall picture is rather bleak; this paper suggests a
series of possible solutions aimed at improving it.