The representatives of the Digital Innovation Hubs in Romania (Digital Innovation Hubs) and the regional and national authorities met for the first time in July, 7 to lay the foundations of a united community, to make their activity known at national and international level, but also to highlight the importance of digitalization of companies and public administration in Romania.
Thus, Romania is among the first states to take important steps for the selection of these digital innovation centers that will play an extremely important role in the Digital Europe program, which is to be implemented in the period 2021-2027.
"I think we are among the first to open for Romania a national chapter of our presence on this platform (DIHNET.EU). (...) I am very happy to see that this time Romania is among the first states to take steps at national level towards the selection of these digital innovation centers that will later be able to connect at European level. ", said in the opening of the event, the coordinator of Transilvania Digital Innovation Hub, Bianca Muntean.
Although Digital Innovation Hubs (DIHs) are new structures for Eastern Europe, the European Commission and the governments of the EU Member States rely on them to contribute to the digital transformation of public administration but also of non-IT SMEs. Given that Romania ranks 26th out of the 28 EU member states in the Digital Economy and Society Index for 2020 (DESI), these digital innovation centers are extremely important for Romania's digital development, being nominated in the above-mentioned report.
"As you may know, we already announced a few months ago that we will be responsible for coordinating this program (Digital Europe). We will organize at the end of this month the Info Day that we are all waiting for, we are also working on the selection criteria for IHLs in Romania. I think it is quite important that you have managed to organize the community at the national level. (...) We have managed to strengthen the dialogue with the European Commission and I support this approach, so everyone is aware of the potential that IHLs will have to have. Personally, I believe that IHLs will be a pillar for the digital transformation of the private environment, I strongly believe in their importance and participating in several conferences since I have this mandate of ADR I have seen the interest shown by communities to take part in this project. ”, said Sabin Sărmaș, president of the Romanian Digitalization Authority.
Transilvania Digital Innovation Hub coordinates the space dedicated to Digital Innovation Hubs in Romania, created by DIHNET.EU. This space encourages collaboration between hubs in order to facilitate the access of SMEs and local public administrations to digital technologies. The launch event of the community was attended by some representatives of digital innovation hubs in Romania who responded to the invitation of Transilvania Digital Innovation Hub and Transilvania IT Cluster to join this community, Cristian Otgon, from ADR Nord Vest, but also Lucie Milcent,FundingBox project manager and Maurits Butter, TNO Netherlands, who presented the platform created for the Romanian community of DIHs.
The recording of the event can be followed on the Transilvania Digital Innovation HUB facebook page.
About Transilvania Digital Innovation Hub: Transilvania Digital Innovation Hub is an initiative started in 2017, coordinated by Transilvania IT Cluster and which includes the Transylvanian Furniture Cluster, the AgroTransilvania Cluster, the Transylvania Creative Industries Cluster and the Transylvania Energy Cluster. Transylvania IHL has a strategic role at regional level for aggregating the regional innovation potential. On the other hand, it is a provider of skills, know-how, innovation programs, support for start-ups and SMEs. Our vision is to increase competitiveness through an innovative mix of technologies, systemic approach, operational models, stakeholder involvement and proactive adaptation to European and global trends.