EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVES ON COMPETITIVENESS AND RESEARCH IN A KNOWLEDGE-BASED ECONOMY. WHERE DOES ROMANIA STAND?

In order to cope with the challenges of globalization Europe will have tofocus on its creative and innovative capacity, creativity and innovation being crucial inmeeting global challenges, this being the more evident given the current economic crisis.Our paper analyzes the EU cohesion policy (as a tool for addressing challenges in thelong run) on regional development, as well as the regions’ role in the economicdevelopment with regard to research and innovation, in order to lead towards astrengthening of competitiveness. We also question to what extent is encouragingresearch-development-innovation a priority for Romania, given the European standpoint.Our study is mainly based on data provided by various communications from theEuropean Commission, EUROSTAT, and the Statistical Yearbook of Romania.