Zalău City Hall and Local Council have joined the most important IT cluster in Romania. The Cluj IT Cluster brings together 16 universities and scientific research institutes, local and county administrations and dozens of companies active in areas such as software and hardware production, communications and digital media. The benefits of Zală’s membership of this community will be felt in the near future: a digital innovation hub will be opened in the capital of Sălaj.
The Cluj IT Cluster is one of the most important structures in this part of Europe dedicated to innovation and technology transfer. This cluster, founded in Cluj, has been accredited by the European Commission with the Gold Label. This recognition certifies the high innovation and advanced research potential of the Transylvanian cluster. The cluster has members from all over Romania, and some of its member companies have become international players present on several continents. The member entities of the Cluj IT cluster have tens of thousands of employees and generate a combined turnover in excess of one billion euros. The objective of the cluster members is to support incremental innovation, aimed at improving products and processes, as well as fundamental research capable of generating disruptive innovation, capable of changing the labor market and supporting technology transfer from academia to business.
The role of the Zalău City Hall and Local Council will be that of a catalyst-organization, similar to that assumed by entities such as the North-West Regional Development Agency. In concrete terms, this means the adoption of public policies aimed at supporting the processes of research, development, innovation and technology transfer, as well as cooperation between cluster members. “We are honored by the trust that the members of the Cluj IT cluster have given to the local administration. Joining this cluster is the culmination of our efforts to support honest cooperation between the municipality, economic actors and the educational environment. Cluj IT Cluster has distinguished itself by attracting non-reimbursable funding for innovative projects, as well as by generating relevant projects on the labor market,” said Ionel Ciunt, Mayor of Zalău.
In his turn, university professor Stelian Brad, lecturer at the Technical University Cluj-Napoca and president of the Cluj IT cluster, welcomed the involvement of the public administration of Zălau. “We are on the threshold of profound transformations, with a huge impact on communities. Artificial Intelligence and quantum technologies are elements that will change the economic paradigm in which we are evolving and we are happy to be at the forefront of this process of digital transformation. In Zalău there are also companies that operate in the IT sphere, but also specialized departments of multinational corporations or public institutions that have the opportunity to participate in our projects”, said Professor Stelian Brad.
The establishment of a digital innovation hub in Zalău becomes the first major step in the development of the IT sector in the Sălaj area. The operationalization of the hub will materialize through the company Netrom Comunicații, member of the Cluj IT cluster. “We have already taken an important step towards the preparation of the logistic base necessary for the operationalization of the hub through the investment made in the purchase of a building in the historic center of Zalău. The hub’s headquarters will be in a building close to the Zalău City Hall, more precisely in Iuliu Maniu Square at no. 2. The Zalău headquarters will be set up in the physical framework necessary for the coagulation of the community dedicated to digital innovation.
It will be a hub that will support cross-cutting cooperation between companies, public administration and education actors. Among the objectives that we have with the hub that we are setting up in Zalău are financial and operational assistance to start-ups with a focus on the development of digital products and innovation, support for research projects, the realization of training or refresher courses for the management of IT companies, the organization of business events with members of the business community, local government and IT companies, including the award of scholarships. We appreciate the remarkable openness and visionary thinking of the municipality of Zalău, which very quickly sensed the major impact that such a project can have for the business environment and the local community, manifested in particular by the sustained involvement of Mayor Ionel Ciunt in organizing the necessary framework for the discussions and working sessions”, said Liviu Vlașin, CEO of Netrom Comunicații.
The Digital Innovation Hub in Zalău could become operational in 2025, if the necessary steps are completed as planned and the institutions responsible for ensuring the legal framework for the activity will provide prompt support, as the representatives of the Cluj IT cluster, responsible for this project, hope.
