It is already well-known that the mission assumed by Cluj IT Cluster consists in generating and sustaining a relevant interaction between the software industry, the academic environment and the public institutes, for further developing Cluj as one of the leaders in the IT domain. This leading position was won and sustained until now mainly by the outsourcing services, but, in order to further ensure the sustainable growth, it will be necessary to have a diversification of activities, through the realization of the owner IT products generated inclusively in the context of the innovative start-ups.
A consistent list of firm objectives targetted in this direction, having already integrated some very concrete activities, aim at the following aspects: ·the creation of the necessary premises in order to increase the competitivity of the companies from the IT&C area ·the identification and promotion of the initiatives that generate innovative products and services ·the acceleration of the collaboration, in the domain of the scientific research, between the academic environment and the companies ·the generation and attraction of funding for research, development and innovation projects, as well as the creation of some mechanisms for the collaborative approach regarding the important innovative projects ·the creation and promotion of the local IT&C industry brand ·the consolidation of the innovative potential from the IT domain through specific training sessions ·the generation of interactions and contexts that can sustain the possibility of development, at the level of the companies which are members of the cluster, of some IT innovative products, aimed to position them at the top level on the existing markets and to open new opportunities for them on the market.
This list of really ambitious objectives confirms its viability through an interaction based behaviour, which already has some concrete effects in the competitivity area. We are talking here, for exemplification, about the framework for education having as purpose the awareness and consolidation of know-how concerning the competitive advantage, offered in the context of the "Competitivity and Innovation" program affiliated to Harvard Business School and developed through the DECID department of Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, as well as about the support for the activities of branding and trademark registration at OSIM (State Office for Inventions and Trademarks). On the other hand, in order to find ways for financing research and innovation, the consortia building for project proposals was started in the context of Horizon 2020 framework program of the European Committee.
In the virtue of a belief assumed through the statute of the ClujIT Cluster association, the most important objective is, however, that of offering innovative solutions for the community, based on collaborative know-how contributions and advanced competencies /even vanguard competencies/. They are originated from all the environments able to provide knowledge and expertise which are so well represented in our town through their potential in the IT domain, successfully proved by the local IT companies in conjunction with the innovative capabilities offered by the four universities which are members of this cluster. Thus, it is about a huge potential, and the scale of the projects that are being developed in this major direction is concordant with this dimension, since we are talking here about the project "Innovative Development through Computerization of the Local Urban Ecosystem" also known as "Cluj-Napoca: Next Generation Brained City" - project approved for financing on POSCCE/ Op.1.3.3, as well as of the major project "Cluj Innovation City" - considered to be the biggest urban project of our city, being consolidated by a strong public-private partnership that unifies the local authorities, the academic environment and the business environment represented through the ClujIT Cluster.
These very important projects are aimed to generate a living area based on the innovative concept of urban community, ecologic and completely computerized, established under the paradigm of "networked ecological city".
According to this concept, our urban environment has chances to become a harmonious and eco-efficient environment, in which the specific components and levels are harmonized through an integrative and exhaustive computerization, this computerized system playing the role of a "brain" which uses data collected through sensor networks ("smart sensor networks"), but also through the human operators from all the contexts which are specific to the community (business, cultural, educational, social, medical etc.), in order to manage and harmonize in an intelligent manner the resources and components of the community from each of these levels. It is absolutely clear that the energies involved for the realization in practice of this concept are and will be very important! And the signal given by the fact that there already exists the support of the local, governmental and European authorities, is obviously a positive fact!
by Ovidiu Mățan
