Competitiveness through Innovation at National and European Level Under the Circumstances of the Economic and Financial Crisis

Increased competitiveness through innovation at enterprise level, at national and European territory level has a key role in ensuring an economic sustainable growth. Competitiveness at European level depends on the national one and on that of the EU member countries. The current European context dominated by the financial and economic crisis forces the member states to find solutions to attain the central objective of 2020 Europe Strategy for further growth of competitiveness, growth driven primarily by the development of some national economies based on knowledge and innovation. Innovative performances have been improving every year despite the economic crisis, but the discrepancies among countries are still considerable. Some countries, including Romania, have recorded modest innovative performances which require greater efforts to improve the national innovation research system.