Romania’s Cluster Potential. Integrating Intelligence Systems to Spur Competitiveness in the Agriculture Industry

A clusters’ role in stimulating, creating, and expanding a region's competitiveness is axiomatic. The research questions that have steered our study are: which are the Romanian industries with the highest potential for cluster development? How did the European top-ranked agricultural clusters integrate intelligence systems into their operations? How could we adapt those intelligent systems to develop Romania's agro-clusters? The results were obtained by employing a two-fold methodology: (1) to evaluate Romania's cluster potential, we have used the Cluster Index of Sternberg and Litzenberger, and (2) to design sustainable policies meant to spur the sector's competitiveness, we have used the benchmarking for 14 agricultural clusters awarded with Gold Label by the European Cluster Excellence Initiative. We learned that over half of the Romanian counties have the highest potential to develop clusters in the primary industry—the agriculture, forestry and fishing, and mining and quarrying sectors. The counties that registered the most significant Cluster Index on the agriculture sector are Bihor, Covasna, Harghita, Botoșani, Neamț, and Vaslui. Concerning the stimulation of the cluster's competitiveness, we concluded that Romania needs a robust investment in knowledge and innovation, implementation of intelligent systems among the value chain, and facilitation of national and international collaboration. Our conclusions could represent a starting point for regional policymakers, cluster directors, and governments to create new strategies to support Romania's agricultural industry and clusters.