Abstract:

Innovation is often considered to be an activity specific for developed countries. For developing or underdeveloped countries, this may be an instrument of economic growth if they know how to use it properly. The purpose of this paper is to show Romania's position regarding the degree of innovation in European context, but also to come up with solutions for its improvement. The first part of the study involves analyzing the performance of innovation in European countries, reaching their 2020 target (by investing 3% of GDP in R&D) as well as the position of Romania towards these countries. In the second part we presented the issue of the R&D situation in Romania, we also identified its causes and we have proposed entrepreneurial measures to increase this sector. The analysis is based on the data provided by the European Innovation Scoreboard for 2017 and the National Institute of Statistics of Romania for the period 2008-2016. We have also examined national R&D structures to the purpose of establishing determinants of the low degree of innovation in Romania. From a methodological point of view, this paper is a fundamental, qualitative and exploratory type, which attempts by a theoretical approach to propose solutions to some real problems in terms of increasing the degree of innovation in Romania.