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DESTINATION: ROMANIA / IT, the key of economy development in Cluj [Agerpres, Bucharest, Romania :: ](Agerpres (Romania) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Aug. 26--Cluj-Napoca -- Cluj-Napoca is at present the most advanced and promising Romanian city in IT, only competing with Bucharest, the capital. According to a study heading 'IT&C industry in 2009 -- 2010' carried out by the Computing Institute of Bucharest, Cluj County was second in this industry in 2010, right behind Bucharest, with more than 1,300 active companies, a total turnover of 1.8 billion euros, and 8,500 employees. At present, 15,000 IT specialists work in Cluj, either in Romanian or foreign companies. Almost all the orders for the IT companies come from the European or international market. This obvious boom of the IT industry of Cluj has not, however, come out of the air. It is based on a less known history starting over half a century ago. At the end of the ?60s, communist leaders wanted to introduce informatics to Romania, and therefore they set up economic relations, specialization, and exchange of experience with France. Several professionals were sent to France for specialization, and managed to use the accumulated knowledge in a highly creative way. Indeed, creativity was needed to replace -- then and later -- material and technological shortcomings. For instance, one of the first Romanian computers was built in Cluj. Its name was Dacic; the researchers of the Computing Institute designed it based on French technology. Another model, the PRAE 1000, was the first personal computer of Romania. It was built in the '80s as a copy of the British ZX81, famous at that time, priced at 100 pounds -- very convenient for the UK market. PRAE 1000 was connected to a tape player for data storage and to a TV set for display. The keyboard -- the first flat one -- was invented by an engineer of the design team, and used even in schools. For some of today's owners of software companies of Cluj this was the first PC they saw, says its designer Miklos Patrubany. One thing is sure: Cluj had a group of very smart experts, who practically laid the basis of computing in the region. 'They were very valuable researcher, and some of them are still present in the industry. Indeed, Cluj was since the early '60s in the vanguard of this field, when a national programme for introducing computing was launched. It was a chance that a highly performing team existed back then, grouped in two centres -- the Territorial Computing Centre and the Computing Technology Institute. Those people really achieved exceptional things, and this was the start of the computing school of Cluj also at the Babes-Bolyai University and at the Polytechnic [Institute]. Cluj was a rival of Bucharest as early as the ?70s, with no problem or complex whatsoever,' explains Alexandru Tulai, chairman of the board of the Cluj IT Cluster, the most important in Romania. In 1990, the IT industry lost the clients needing solutions. This didn't last long, because Western countries were experiencing a boom, and needed more IT experts than they could find. 'As early as the ?90s, some Romanians realized that Romania could become a strong export force in IT. The power of our school actually came out of a weakness. Namely, the weakness of our education system, the lack of advanced technology proved to be an advantage. The education in countries like France, Britain or Germany is pragmatic. Here the work was mainly on paper, which sent to the top of the pyramid some experts with high power of abstract thinking and modelling. The conditions here were so hard, that they had to innovate; this not-so-pragmatic system stimulated creativity. True, there was a small percentage, but tops emerged,' Tulai explained. He recalls that during the early ?90s, Romania -- Cluj included -- was a a cradle of IT experts famous even across the Atlantic. 'In America and in Europe, I alone know 20 professors that were my schoolmates. They were very good, they left very early. Some of my friends who left after the [1989] revolution told me of a professor of MIT [Massachusetts Institute of Technology] who asked them where he came from; my friend answered, 'From Europe,' without going into details. 'Where from, precisely?' the professor asked. 'Well, now, I don't think you know my country,' my friend answered. When the professor insisted, he said it was Romania. 'Where from, in Romania?' came the next question, and when he answered it was Cluj, he was asked which university. This shows that back then, in the ?90s, the IT school of Cluj was known even in America,' Tulai recalls. The fact is that those left behind by exodus of IT experts, which lasted for some years, between 1995 and 2000, founded companies in Cluj. As the local IT landscape was familiar to foreigners, they came along and opened their own companies, using their relations in Europe and the local workforce -- or rather brain force, in this case. Nowadays, IT Cluster leaders think that they should steer to the Romanian market. Cluj companies -- at least some of them, to start with -- could supply the administration, as part of a national community still lacking the industrial side. One of the main purposes of creating the Cluj IT Cluster was precisely to provide the development framework for projects aimed at the local community and at research. ___ (c)2014 Agerpres, Bucharest, Romania Visit Agerpres, Bucharest, Romania at www1.agerpres.ro/english Distributed by MCT Information Services |