The Resource Center
for
Knowledge Economy in Romania

The Mission of the Resource Center for the Knowledge Economy
is to stimulate the development of a competitive, sustainable economy in Romania.

Knowledge is becoming an increasingly important resource and a key driver of economic and social development more broadly.

Thus, transition countries must aim to take full advantage of this resource in order to reduce the gap that separates them from developed countries. For Eastern European Countries, developing a Knowlegde Economy becomes a crucial step within the larger picture of the European Eunion accession.

There are four essential and interrelated “pillars” of any such strategy for building a knowledge economy:

1. Creating an appropriate economic incentive and institutional regime;
2. Creating a society of skilled, flexible and creative people, with opportunities for quality education and life-long learning available to all;
3. Building a dynamic information infrastructure, including both "high-end" information and communications technologies (ICTs) and other elements of an information-rich society such as radio, television and other media, and a range of communication services;
4. Creating an efficient innovation system comprising firms, research centers, universities, think tanks and other organizations;

In the last few years, Romania has made important steps in each of these four essential “pillars”, and the government has issued a Position Paper that underlines the main action-areas for developing a Knowledge Economy.

Despite these, there is little correlation among the various initiatives, leading to a growing need for interaction, concentration of the KE community and information sharing in the field.

To this end, the activities of the Resource Center will include:

1. Leadership and operational support for a KE “think tank”. The think tank will periodically issue reports and position papers, initiate public debates and communication programs, promote projects mobilizing the main actors, and stimulate academic research;
2. Providing logistic support through an online community, including databases of most relevant KE publications, resource persons, events, financing opportunities etc.;
3. Managing communication activities to disseminate the Knowledge Economy concepts (website, seminars, conferences in the main Romanian cities, media coverage) and opportunities in the Romanian society;
4. Raising support and developing partnerships with other donor organizations to ensure sustainability.

The Resource Center provides the necessary leadership aimed at making the KE concepts operational in Romania, by collecting, structuring and disseminating the KE related information, experience and other resources, as well as influencing decision-makers.

The Center provides operational support in promoting KE initiatives and partnerships between the various actors concerned with the KE issues, respectively in introducing the KE concepts into the public discourse and debate.

The key target group is the “innovation community” - entrepreneurial private sector organizations, the research community, policy makers in relevant sectors including business environment, academics.

The project is coordinated by the World Bank Office in Romania, with the logistical support of eRomania Gateway Association.