New Journeys

Submitted by Bianca Muntean on 01 November 2019

Once the concept of cluster is considered, the natural response is to view such structures as platforms of knowledge and training for the implementation of collaborative projects, and our general view of clusters today as advancers of progress is based not on theories of collaboration but on recurrent experience of success models.

Founded in 2013 by Aries Transilvania, Transilvania IT Cluster was originally aimed to support employees of member companies in acquiring  technical and soft skills. While this continues to be an important focus, Transilvania IT Cluster aims to develop and design bigger frameworks for increasing  the acceleration of the Cluj Napoca sector development.

The regional IT&C sector outlook is highly dynamic, with more than 20,000 developers and 1,400 companies active in Cluj-Napoca only. Add to this the 10 universities with their 80,000 students and you have a numeric representation of Romania’s second strongest IT pole, following capital city Bucharest. Our objective is to stimulate technological innovative capabilities for all interested parties, in order to support them in delivering products and services for the European Digital Single Market.

The development of the digitalization initiative in Cluj and the Transilvania region represents a first step in supporting an efficient technological development and consolidating the city on the European map of digitalization. In addition, our purpose is to support digitization through collaborations with different sectors of activity and to establish a culture of co-creation of technical joint solutions and products through trans-sectoral collaboration.

Thus the founding of Transilvania Digital Innovation Hub in collaboration with relevant stakeholders in the region. Its mission is to identify collaborative projects for digitalisation of all interested parties such as companies, clusters active in various activity sectors, research institutes, software companies, public authorities, universities and others. 

Apart from being very vibrant, Cluj Napoca is interesting for several reasons: the industrial landscape is well developed - active clusters which are now looked at as the front runners of the regional innovation ecosystems and also the collaborative environment of the quintuple helix.

We have worked together with colleagues from the Clusters Consortium on a number of projects aimed at reshaping the present context in view of future tendencies and aspirations. To refer solely to the ones in implementation phase currently, I would like to mention:

  • REFLOW - a Horizon 2020 project, where we work to redefine the urban metabolism through model cities living on a circular & regenerative economy.

  • Cluj Future of Work - an Urban Innovative Actions project which aims to facilitate the integration of people from the current field of workforce into the trends that will dictate the jobs of the future.

  • ROCK - a Horizon 2020 project, which focuses on historic city centres as extraordinary laboratories to demonstrate how Cultural Heritage can be a unique and powerful engine of regeneration.

  • Intelligent Romania, a POCA funded project which supported a bottom up approach to policy making and opened rounds of consultations with the economic and public sector representatives that resulted in setting 3 priorities to be transformed in public policy proposals.

  • Learning4Entrepreneurs which develops entrepreneurial skills and supports business initiatives by promoting the entrepreneurial culture in the North-Western region of Romania. The project ensures access to integrated advisory services, start-up business support, assistance, mentoring and entrepreneurial training.

We are tackling change in a unique field, with the spectacular ability to completely reshape a city by contributing to the acceleration of its economic, demographic and social networks and frameworks. It has always been our mission at Transilvania IT Cluster to analyse this pathway and propose alternatives to further stimulate this trajectory of innovation in order to achieve sustainable growth for the city of Cluj - Napoca and the region. What is important is that these changes are driven in a way where a joint win- win is created.

We have enjoyed seeing the consolidation of partnerships within the Cluj model ecosystem and we firmly believe cross sectoral collaboration between clusters’ members is the approach that leads us all forward. 

With the aim of becoming a prominent innovation hub for South-Eastern Europe, we maintain an open innovation mindset which we feel is the best attitude to compliment our gold label accreditation. As bridgers to European and regional policies we empower SMEs and start-ups to join the dialogue and make themselves heard; as facilitators of innovation and technological exchanges we pursue of culture of renewal prioritising an ever growing calendar of new skills and trainings. 

There may be times when a process of healing follows a stage of ravenous creativity, when we need to incorporate the storming phase, which is an inherent step in our growth, in order to achieve formation and genuine performance. We need to be inspired and maintain the courage and enthusiasm which sparks start-up life. But also to keep close to heart our primary purpose which is to serve the development of SMEs sustainably for them to be able to quantify the impact of our work within each of the companies.

As I look to the future in anticipation of the clusters of change, a new generation of value creation networks that are open, multi-collaborative, entrepreneurship driven, cross-sectoral and inter-connected across Europe - I put my faith in the mindset aligned to ecosystems over egosystems.

But in our  quest to multiply the impact of smart specialisation strategies, we should never leave behind the societal component which is such an important aspect of the landscape we activate in. Co-creation is always both technical and societal, this mixture is the most fertile ground for innovation, responsibly delivering value for society, environment and economy.

Bianca Muntean

Transilvania IT Cluster manager

2019 Elected EU Cluster Manager of the Year

Cluster organisation
Share this Article