THE PATH TOWARDS COHESION: REFLECTIONS ON RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT SECTOR IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

The reducing of the development gaps is a goal pursued by all emerging European states in the common effort to achieve an increased cohesion. The ways through which the economic disparities could be diminished are varied but in this paper we will focus on the importance of scientific research. The target of allocating at least 3% of GDP, from both public and private sources, for research and development (R&D) activities, stipulated in the EU 2020 Strategy, represents a fundamental milestone in our analysis, the main purpose being to answer to the following questions: Which is the potential of convergence on scientific research line of the least developed countries in the EU27?; How does the Cohesion Policy, through the structural funds, improve the quality of scientific research?; Which are the perspectives of cooperation between the research institutes and the private sector in order to generate a higher level of innovation in society?; It is possible to create new innovative clusters in Romania, bringing added value to the economy and thus reducing the development discrepancies? Answering these questions in a comparative manner, it will be emphasized the need for giving a major significance to scientific research, especially through a sufficient funding in all countries.