Irina Anghel

The R&D and Innovation Systems in Romania and Bulgaria in the EU Context☆

Abstract Once the economic upsurge ended and the crisis settled in, the decisional behaviour regarding research, development and innovation in the public as well as private sectors deflected the upward trend of innovation performance indicators for both Bulgaria and Romania. While the overall innovation index for EU27 kept a positive growth rate, the evolution of the input and output innovation indicators for both countries along 2009 have downgraded their relative position amongst the EU countries. Therefore, in 2010, Bulgaria and Romania were screened out from the “catching-up countries” and moved back in the “modest innovators” cluster, where they have hovered until now.

The Educational Level as a risk Factor for Youth Exclusion from the Labour Market

Abstract Against the framework of multiplied and diversified challenges to sustainable development, optimizing the young people insertion into the labour market stands out as an imperative as well as a promising tool for tackling demographic ageing, societal and individual risks as well as the sustainability of economic and social growth. Along the last years daunted by economic crisis, the youth unemployment rates have soared up to over 30% and NEET rates (for 25-29 age interval) to over 25% in a quarter of the EU countries. The average European values for these indicators remain high, threatening to transform the “lost generation” metaphor into reality. Considering extremely high medium and long term costs - to both the individual and the society - associated to the youth exclusion from the labour market, based on a thorough literature review and statistic analysis, this paper aims to provide a concise picture over the phenomenon of youth exclusion on the Romanian labour market and to assess the impact of the educational level, as one of the main risk factors, on the structure and size of the vulnerable group. Considering best practice examples in other countries, the paper ends with presenting main policy directions for tackling this important societal risk.