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Open innovation is a new paradigm for the development of agribusiness in Romania and the Danube macro-region. Studies on agro-food chains and clusters are still scarce. In the Romanian agro-food sector, 7 regional and cross-regional clusters are very active. This study aims to present the state of the art on open innovation in agribusiness in Romania, identifying how it is adopted, the role of clusters and the factors that influence this process, a collaborative platform for agro-food clusters and their members and future research possibilities. Is a need for internal organizational changes, the support of communication tools and an intellectual property model that encourage knowledge sharing. The main obstacles to the implementation of the digitization process in the agro-food sector are lack of expertise, high costs or in compatibility with the field of activity. Open innovation is a field that needs to be explored in different links in the chain, clusters being facilitators of this process. The challenges of agribusiness today demand more complex and systemic innovations that can be achieved through more open processes of product development. Clusters from agro-food sector are increasingly opening their innovation processes, streamlining their research and development activities with the expectation of better results. In general, the main barrier in establishing innovation alliances refers to the inherent risk of knowledge sharing, which creates a lack of trust between partners. The study could be a good practice model for other countries from the Danube macro-region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The social innovation in clusters is a novelty for Romania and the paper presents a scientific method to evaluate and monitor of the social innovation performances in clusters. Clusters are drivers of entrepreneurship, innovation, economic growth and jobs. The paper intends to focus on the objectives related on the innovative capacity of clusters and of linkages that involve social relationships or networks that produce benefits for the cluster members, on the competitiveness of clusters and their potential of creating new jobs, on tools and measures to increase social innovation and on social awareness within cluster for closing the gap between the needs of cluster members and the educational/R&D output to reduce the gap between clusters from EU and Ro. From a methodological point of view, the research paper encompasses 4 components: 1) Cluster development in Romania and promotion of social innovation, 2) Elaboration of a scientific method to improve the cluster impact on innovation, economic growth and social integration, 3) Expected results using specific tools for the new method developed (social innovation audit; benchmarks; foresights; IP audit; specific questionnaires) and a large scale dissemination including: a Guide on social innovation in clusters in the near future; the creation of the Ro-EU cluster networks and a national platform for collaboration on social innovation in Romania, 4) Conclusions on cluster willingness to embrace this concept of social innovation primarily because there is a new sense of urgency in the need to find solutions to many of the clusters problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]