During the last 10–15 years the following paradox has occurred in the Romanian R&D: on the one hand, some important institutional transformations have taken place.

This study offers from the beginning a survey about the institutional construction in the pre- and post-adhesion stages to European Economic and Monetary Union, about the exchange rate mechanism applied by the different countries and about convergence criteria.

Real convergence represents an essential objective for Romania\'s integration into the EU.

Progresul cunoaşterii şi sporirea rolului ei în creşterea economică sunt strâns legate de finanţarea cercetării, dezvoltării tehnologice şi inovării (CD&I).

The paper mainly aims at defining strategic industries, establishing selection criteria and pointing out opportunities for the implementation of policies specific to market economies for promoting these industries.

The study is based on the critical observations that the competitive market forces alone are not able to assure the convergence with the developed countries. 

The study defines the three types of convergence – institutional, nominal and real ones –, the connection among them and their main measurement indicators.