Klaszterek szerepe a regionális fejlődésben

The existence of agglomeration economies and the effects on the process of regional development has long preoccupied researchers in the field of economics as well as social studies. Since the beginning of the last century many authors have tried to shed light on the causes of economic agglomerations, trying to describe the factors (transport costs, information flow, personal relations, etc.) playing an important role in the clustering process. Although their role has significantly changed during the last years, their cumulated effect – due to economic principles – has been linked more and more often to the concept of territorial capital. Regarding the typology of economic agglomerations, we can distinguish a series of different classifications from the simplest ones to the more complex versions, based on the functional relationships, the specialization, territorial concentration as well as a series of other characteristics which make the respective clusters unique. The goal of the paper is to offer a comprehensive overview on the results of cluster research in the last years, insisting on the role of agglomeration economies in the process of regional development, with a special emphasis on the Romanian situation, the importance of the regional dimension, the shortcomings of the innovation system as well as the new opportunities offered by Structural Funds.