THE "STRATEGIES FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF SMES" CONFERENCE / CRISTIAN PÂRVAN, AOAR: "Creativity needs to be seen as an opportunity for added value"

The segment of creativity must be seen as an opportunity for added value, says Cristian Pârvan, the secretary general of the Association of Romanian Businesspeople (AOAR), who says that innovation has become an industry worth taking into consideration: "In Romania, we have intelligence and we need to establish this domestic capital - our creativity -, in our bid to produce more. We must think about what we can do to stimulate creativity as part of our entrepreneurial culture".

Cristian Pârvan felt the need to mention that while the state aids granted between 2007 and 2013, amounting to 600 million Euros, have created 6,000 jobs, out of the 30 million Euros - money made available to people interested in creating companies of the SRL-D type, over the course of four years -, 13,000 jobs have been created, and the failure rate of these companies was below the national median. "That is why we need to have the courage to bet on Romanian's intelligence and desire to innovate, which needs to be the growth engine for the economy", the representative of the AOAR considers.

He said that claims that agriculture, which "we can't survive without", and energy represent the most important engines for the growth of the GDP are debatable, if we consider the potential the innovation sector has.

She claims that the strategy dedicated to SMEs represents a first anchor of public policies and that SMEs need jobs and financing, as the latter is limited for those who want to start businesses.

"In the last five years of crisis, at the level of the developed countries, 80% of the new jobs have been created by newly created companies, which have been active for less than five years, as all the major companies have reduced the number of jobs", said Cristian Pârvan.