The Role of Universities from the North–Western Romania in the Development of Regional Knowledge–Based Economies

The knowledge–based economy requires that research–development activities contribute to the creation of added value. Innovation, another important component of this type of economy, constitutes, in turn, an indicator of global competitiveness. In the national and supranational processes and strategies to implementation of regional knowledge–based economy, a leading role is played by universities, turned into spaces of the integrated approach of the triangle education–research–innovation. The study aims to analyze the involvement of higher education institutions in the North–West Development Region in the transformation of the local economy. The data collected will allow us to highlight the mechanisms through which partnerships involving academic communities fail to transform knowledge from publications, patents and prototypes in technologies and “services economically and socially assimilated”