Regional Polarisation and Unequal Development in CEE: Challenges for Innovative Place-based Policies
CLUJ IT CLUSTER
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Cluj IT Cluster is a cluster management entity, built on the quadruple helix model of the IT value chain (companies, universities and research institutes, authorities and other catalyst organizations and the community). Cluj IT facilitates and integrates the communication and collaboration among its members.
Currently Cluj IT Cluster has 47 members, of which 33 are companies. The organization accounts for almost a third part of the entire IT workforce in Cluj, while also leveraging on the partnership with 5 of the most important universities in Romania. Each member organization is exposed to a new form of collaboration that seeks the strategic alignment with other players in the IT value chain in order to build new projects, increase opportunities and create socio-economic sustainability in our region. This is achieved through a tested environment which allows each member to identify its interests in relation with others in Cluj IT Cluster.
Our challenge is to support innovation in processes and design of new products and services to increase competitiveness on national and international level. For that we are undertaking various activities to create the framework where societal advancements are generated and encouraged through the contribution of technology. Since our foundation we have been promoting concepts such as technological transfer, digital transformation and smart specialization as key processes for increased business resilience and sustainability. With this view at the core of our organization, the ability of the business sector to interconnect with science (and scientists) has become crucial.
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OTP Bank
OTP Group as a dominant banking player in Hungary and the Central and Eastern European region provides high quality financial services for its more than 12 million private and corporate clients in nine countries through its almost 1500 branches, agent networks, 3900 ATMs, internet and electronic channels.
Since its 1949 founding, the company has developed to a universal financial service provider banking group.
In 1990, the National Savings Bank became a public company with a share capital of HUF 23 billion. Its name was changed to the National Savings and Commercial Bank. Subsequently, non-banking activities were separated from the bank, along with their supporting organizational units.
OTP Bank’s privatization began in 1995. As a result of 3 public offers along with the introduction of the bank’s shares into the Budapest Stock Exchange. Currently the bank is characterized by dispersed ownership of mostly private and institutional (financial) investors.
OTP Bank has completed several successful acquisitions in the past years, becoming a key player in the region. Besides Hungary, OTP Group currently operates in 8 countries of the region via its subsidiaries: in Bulgaria (DSK Bank), in Croatia (OTP banka Hrvatska), in Romania (OTP Bank Romania), in Serbia (OTP banka Srbija), in Slovakia (OTP Banka Slovensko), in Ukraine (CJSC OTP Bank), in Montenegro (Crnogorska komercijalna banka) and in Russia (OAO OTP Bank).
The continued development and expansion of OTP Bank have significantly contributed to the successful and efficient operation of the banking group, which can provide high quality services both the retail and the institutional clients. Despite the intense competition OTP Bank market position is stable in several segments, as well as in terms of profitability and stability belongs to the European frontline.
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