Semiconductors are a key component for the future and for the present, Minister of Research, Innovation and Digitization Sebastian Burduja said on Friday at the Black Sea and Balkans Security Forum, an event organized by the New Strategy Center, with the support of NATO's Public Diplomacy Division and in partnership with the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
"I don't know who could imagine life without all the devices that include semiconductor-based technology, nanotechnologies in general. (...) The first element that Romania needs - and with this it must always start - are the people, the human resource. In vain we have every year performance that we are rightly proud of, in vain we are in the all-time rankings on the podium in computer science, physics, chemistry, mathematics. For a people of 20 million souls it is not a typical performance. So, we have the most important resource - the human resource. We wonder how we prepare it to contribute to the economy of the future, to the production of semiconductors, what kind of involvement we have in the technology chain - in the design part, in the niche part, in the production part and so on. In Romania there are several centers of excellence. They are the national research institutes, a good part of them being on the platform at Magurele," Burduja said.
According to him, Romania has prepared for the future Competitiveness Operational Programme several strategic projects of the country - one related to semiconductors and nanotechnologies, and another to artificial intelligence.
"Two are of interest to our theme today. The first is even related to nanotechnologies and semiconductors and will be a consortium of research institutes. (...) We're going to have another hub, and that's the artificial intelligence hub. Romania has among the world's greatest mathematicians. We have a plan to use Romanians at home, Romanians in the diaspora and we are already in touch with brilliant minds. (...) We have people, we have funding at least at a level where Romania can make a difference of great added value, which I support, we need access to markets and investors," the minister added.
He expressed his hope that an agency to attract foreign investments and to promote exports would be established shortly.
"I believe that shortly this dream will come true to have an agency to attract foreign investments and to promote exports. Romania once had," the official said.
In his view, economic growth is "about individual productivity" of labour.
"Romania has no demographic leverage to accelerate its economic development, so it must rely on innovation and increasing labour productivity for every Romanian. (...) It has become obvious, with the pandemic, with this conflict in Ukraine, that we are doomed to produce the essential resources we need. We, of course, integrated into the European family," Burduja concluded.AGERPRES
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