The obtaining of this certification has entailed the assessment of the Cluster through a standard set of questionnaires, an assessment conducted by the certified cluster benchmark experts of the European Secretariat for Cluster Analysis. An analysis report and a set of recommendations on developing and consolidating the Cluster were presented on the basis of the assessment.
In order to obtain the Bronze label, Cluj IT Cluster was assessed on multiple levels, such as the types of member organizations and the degree of their involvement, the manner of organization, the main activities, the services offered, the profile of the management team, the financing it has, the projects attracted etc.
“The result of the benchmarking represents the Cluster’s recognition at European level in line with specific classifications, however it entails a responsibility given the fact that it reflects the cluster’s position in relation to the declared strategic socio-economic development goals,” Cluj IT Cluster CEO Alexandru Tulai stated.
The Bronze label has two-year validity and can be used for promotion, to ease access to collaboration opportunities with other European clusters, for partnerships and the development of joint projects.
The cluster’s representatives pointed out that they are interested in going through the auditing process needed to obtain the Silver certificate, however this entails stages that last up to two years according to the evaluators.
For the time being Romania has no Silver or Gold-certified cluster. At international level there are 7 Silver-certified clusters, 689 Bronze-certified clusters in 37 countries and 48 Gold-certified clusters in 9 countries, most of them in Western Europe.
Cluj IT is an innovative cluster association set up in October 2012, whose membership consists of 30 IT companies, 4 higher education and research institutions – the Babes-Bolyai University, the Cluj-Napoca Technical University, the Cluj-Napoca University of Agriculture Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, and the National Research and Development Institute for Isotopic and Molecular Technologies – as well as 7 public institutions and catalyst organizations.
Cluj IT Cluster is a business initiative whose purpose is to enhance IT competitiveness, to make the Romanian IT industry more visible and attractive, and to put Cluj on the map as a regional innovation hub. The Cluster has the support of the government and of local authorities which consider Cluj IT to be an initiative of national importance. (source: nineoclock.ro)
