1. -Ioana Petrescu (Team Leader, Romania, Academia de Studii Economice)
-Roel Hengeveld (The Netherlands, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen)
-Florian Tutza (mentor)

2. EASTERN EUROPE ROMANIA
 Eastern Europe still has to  In Romania the unemployment
recover from the rate was brought down last year
recession, unemployment with 0.4% to 7% and more
rates are at an average of 10% improvement is expected.
now.  However, Romania also still
 This bad economic situation struggles with a political
leads to political instability crisis, politicians are considered
and riots in EE (e.g. corrupt and not caring about the
Georgia, Latvia, Ukraine & people.
Bulgaria).  Part of this is because of the low
 Another reason for the GDP per head which is 50% below
political instability is the slow EU average, for
growth of GDP per capita 2013, however, GDP growth of
which stays behind that of 1,6% is expected for 2013 and
Romania. 2,5% for 2014.
 EE countries however are  Furthermore the government

3. EASTERN EUROPE ROMANIA
 The focus for Eastern Europe  Of all Eastern European countries Romania shows
should be on IT. one of the highest spending amounts.
 The reason for this is that the IT  For instance, Romania invested enormously in
sector in Eastern Europe shows Adobe, Intel, IBM, EA Games and Oracle.
huge growth.  Secondly, Romania has a lively start-up culture.
 Part of this is because of the lower costs  3 start-ups were listed amongst the top 100 emerging
incurred and the higher efficiency. technology businesses of Europe.
 Furthermore, in the past two years  Lastly, Bucharest, the capital is considered to be a
spending in the IT sector can be major customer service and business processes
observed, plus Eastern Europe is outsourcing hub.
very technologically minded.
 Another important competitive
factor is that Eastern European
students show higher test scores
than for instance Germany, United
States, Sweden and Italy.
IT spending in 2011 & 2012

4.  Romania has good investment possibilities in many domains due to the fact that
the market is not saturated so it can still grow to its full potential.
 On the other hand, there is still the situation of economic underdevelopment which has to be taken
into account.
 Furthermore it is culturally different and interesting for investors.
 However, these cultural differences lead to stereotypes.
 Another good point is the fact that real estate and business development in
general are cheaper than in Western Europe.
 The reason that this is cheaper though, is because of the underpaid work force, which is making the
young smart people emigrate.
 When taking these strengths and weaknesses into account we asked which
industries Romania should focus on.
 Most people mentioned the IT industry.
 Secondly, the pharmaceutical industry was mentioned combined with agribusiness because of the
large amounts of lands and favorable weather for cultivation of the right plants.
 Important to mention here is that SME’s are the way to go for these industries, considering the fact
that in the future 99% of all business will be SME’s.
 Thirdly, we asked for the most wanted profession 10 years from now, and these
answers combined show the focus for IT and agribusiness.
 The majority gave an answer related to the IT industry.
▪ IT developer, software developer, IT specialist, computer technician/operator.
 Other answers included the medicine or agribusiness industries.
▪ Exporter of medicinal plants/products, doctor, medicine expert.

5.  The most important question, which we used to create our vision for the future of
Eastern Europe was about how EE could escape the bind between the West and
the Far East.
 Almost everyone gave the same answer; education.
 Eastern Europe (Romania in our case) can try and bridge the gap between
Western Europe by investing in a good and efficient education system.
 A well educated and ambitious population means better industries, developments and
products.
 However, also important is to increase the living conditions (e.g. improve
healthcare, infrastructure, minimum wages), because having an educated
population is not enough.
 As said before, the current living conditions is making the smart young people emigrate on a
large scale, something that has to be stopped in order to truly compete with the West.
 Currently, Romania is already following an upward trend (GDP
increases, unemployment level decreasing), it is believed that by keep sailing the
current course the economic gap might be bridged.

6.  Taking all the previous mentioned perspectives into account, we
believe that the future for EE lies in the IT industry and
(pharmaceutical) agribusiness and that outsourcing will emerge as
a strong force.
 A reason for the focus on agribusiness is, as mentioned, the large
amount of land available and the good weather conditions for
cultivating plants needed for medicines.
 Because Romania wants to improve its healthcare section over the
coming 10 years, there will be an increase in demand of medicines.
 This increase in demand of medicines will increase the demand of well
educated students which are able to fabricate these medicines.
 An increase in demand of students means that more places will be
needed at educational institutions and with a high level of quality.
 A higher quality level also means the universities will become more
competitive on an international scale, improving the perspective of
Western Europe towards Romania.

7.  As said in the previous slide, there will be an increase in
the level of education in the future.
 The skilled labor force coming from this will help give
Romania a competitive edge.
 In the IT industry we will especially notice a good
educated workforce.
 Romanians have IT classes starting from 1st grade.
 Currently there are 4 specialized information high schools
in Romania.
▪ All other high schools will be giving classes specifically
designed for informatics with information classes of up to 8
hours per week.
 Universities will start internationalizing, increasing the
places for informatics students all over the country.
▪ University of Bucharest.
▪ Technical University of Cluj-Napoca.

8.  With the new, improved, well educated workforce we will
also spot growth in the already existing companies in the IT
and pharmaceutics industries e.g..
 Bitdefender, an antivirus program already winning many prizes
and certificates.
 Laropharm, a pharmaceutical company, well-know in Romania.
 Within these companies we will see that the most
important sectors will be marketing and IT, in order to
save costs after the recession and to stick more to the
core activities of the company.
 We will also notice that all newly created companies will
be in the form of a SME, and that they will funded
through international capital.

9.  The future of the Romanian company will be that in the IT
sector and (pharmaceutical) agribusiness.
 They will be competitive in this field because of good
cultivation possibilities, their well educated workforce, and
lively start-up culture.
 99% Of the newly founded companies will be SME’s, with
an in-house focus on marketing and IT.