Romania lags behind in innovation barometer

Romania is among the worst performing countries for the government regulations that drive innovation forward, according to the GE Global Innovation Barometer 2013. In the protection of intellectual property, Romania came fifth last out of fifty countries, ahead only of Russia, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam.

In terms of legislative transparency, Romania placed third to last in the global ranking, followed by Russia and Vietnam. Companies in Romania find it hard to obtain information about modifications made to governmental policies, which affects their activity, found the researchers. Similarly, regarding the impact of taxation on stimulants for developing economic activity or making an investment, Romania is also third to last, followed by Russia and Turkey.

In terms of infrastructure such as transportation, telephony and energy, Romania was placed third to last again, ahead only of Russia and Vietnam. The country came fourth to last (followed by Russia, South Africa and Thailand) in the field of public acquisitions made to ensure the necessary technology for innovators and in the same position in the existence of the newest technologies (ahead of Russia, Thailand and Vietnam).

Romania’s situation is no better when it comes to the adoption of technologies among companies and the capacity to innovate, coming third to last. Companies in Romania obtain technology exclusively from licenses or imitating foreign companies. Nor does Romania score well when it comes to promoting its innovations. Local companies do not use sophisticated marketing tools and techniques. In this chapter, Romania was ranked fourth to last, followed by Russia, Thailand and Vietnam.

“Romania hasn’t fully exploited the benefits of EU funds, but it can catch up in the next funding period. As an ex-ante condition, the EU requires the states to have a strategy for attracting these funds and Romania must draft it by 2016. An annual verification, with absorption targets for each country, might also be possible,” said Laurentiu Dinu, executive director at Accreo Romania.