THE IMPACT OF THE NATIONAL STRATEGY FOR RESEARCH AND INNOVATION ON THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF A COUNTRY

In recent decades the economic growth based on innovation is no longer just the privilege of the industrialized countries, of countries with a high GDP. More and more developing or emerging countries have turned innovation policies in national development strategy. The economic practice has shown that innovation is one of the main drivers of economic growth. The question is: How can a developing or emerging country support financially and managerially a macroeconomic policy for innovation and especially how can it implement innovation in economy. The paper presents comparatively the situation of innovation in China and the US as an argument that a country that has shaped the innovation policy over more than 20 years may come to compete in this area with the strongest economy in the world. In 1978 China introduced the policy of innovation in the education sector, reforms that have generated an accelerated progress in higher education and research, aimed mainly at increasing the standard of successful innovation and technology. In 2010 China was the second largest economy, surpassing Japan in macroeconomic terms, and in 2014 China's GDP reached US $ 10 trillion dollars. China also leads in innovation among BRICS nations (Brazil, Russian Federation, India, China and South Africa). All these achievements were due to the political and innovation reform that China supported for several decades. In the late 1970s, China implemented a series of R&D policies to stimulate the economy and to transform the education and research system into a system close to economy. The example of this country has changed the paradigm according to which innovation and research as well as their application in the economy are only possible in industrialized countries and has also demonstrated that R&D are vital to the progress of economy.