ANALYSIS OF THE POSSIBILITY OF EVOLUTION OF THE ROMANIAN MARKET ECONOMY THROUGH CLUSTER DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES

In Europe, clusters – especially innovative clusters – are the basis for economic development and innovation, these representing an appropriate framework for business development, collaboration between companies, universities, research institutions, suppliers, clients and competitors that are situated in the same geographical area (local, regional, national, trans-national). The magnitude of industrial clusters is high, worldwide, but the extent of its importance is seen more in the USA and Japan. In Romania, the industrial cluster has experienced a particular assertion. In the Romanian legislation, the term „cluster” means a group of producers, users/beneficiaries, with the purpose of implementing the best practices from EU, in order to increase competitiveness of the economic operators (HG 918:2006 – „Impact” Program). The results of the following research will show the vital role of clusters in the development and evolution of local and regional development of a country, in general, and of Romania, in particular. Also, they will highlight what are the cluster development strategies, and what are the regional, national and international programs of cluster support and development.