Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Knowledge ...

Dan Săvescu, Mihaela-Georgia Sima and Simona-Clara Bârsan
Figure 4 - Teaching and meeting space
How was this helpful? In its first 2 years <strong>of</strong> existence, 11 companies were incubated and helped to
develop into something better.
For example, one <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>m was provided <strong>the</strong> necessary environment so as to create a brand new
material, awarded at Genoa and viable within construction industry. This invention help <strong>the</strong> company
develop from a very fragile start up to a well-known on <strong>the</strong> market SME.
If we were to take into analysis all 11 incubates, in each case, <strong>the</strong>re has been a significant
improvement.
To what extent is this relevant at a regional level? These companies, besides becoming competitive,
created working places, improve <strong>the</strong> R&D level and cooperation between industry, universities and
customers.
Most important, may be <strong>the</strong> fact that after 2 years <strong>of</strong> incubation process, all 11 structures are
functioning on <strong>the</strong>ir own, are consolidated economic structures and new starters replace <strong>the</strong>m,
following <strong>the</strong> same cyclic process.
After all, this is what economy and region need.
3.2 Clusters and business centres
A business cluster is a geographical concentration <strong>of</strong> interconnected businesses and institutions,
activating in a certain field. Clusters lead to <strong>the</strong> growth <strong>of</strong> productivity and national or international
competitiveness <strong>of</strong> companies.
This concept is known as competitive clusters, industrial clusters or Porter’s clusters, as developed by
its creator, Michael Porter (Porter, 1990). Since <strong>the</strong>n, <strong>the</strong> clusters development has become a
focalising element <strong>of</strong> several governmental programmes (Solvell et al, 2003).
A business cluster is a geographical concentration <strong>of</strong> entities that:
have, in <strong>the</strong> area, enough resources and competences for reaching <strong>the</strong> critical point beyond
which <strong>the</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir field development becomes self sustained;
have a key-position in a certain field <strong>of</strong> economic activity;
have a sustainable competitive advantage (Porter, 1985) as compared to o<strong>the</strong>r regions.
Taking into account <strong>the</strong> type <strong>of</strong> knowledge <strong>the</strong>y possess, <strong>the</strong>re are two types <strong>of</strong> business clusters:
technological clusters (techno clusters) – oriented towards high-tech, well adapted to <strong>the</strong>
conditions <strong>of</strong> knowledge based economy. They usually have universities and research centres
(ex. Silicon Valley) as central point <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir development;
know-how based clusters (traditional clusters) – based on more traditional activities that maintain
<strong>the</strong> competitive advantages in know-how terms for periods <strong>of</strong> tens or even hundreds <strong>of</strong> years.
Very <strong>of</strong>ten, <strong>the</strong>y are specific for industry.
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