The complexity of the domain targeted by the CENTRIC Centre of Excellence (management of the territory, land mapping and land registry), its scientific, economic and societal relevance will require the definition of a long-term vision and mission for the Centre resulting from the intersection of horizontal (enabling) factors, e.g., social and economic factors, with vertical (technical) research and technological trends.
A detailed SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis of the domain of territorial management and cadastre in Romania, will highlight local (at regional and national Romanian level) strengths and constraints, as well as opportunities and threats.
Based on the results of the aforementioned SWOT analysis, a long-term scientific and innovation strategy will be
identified, including:
A further objective will be to perform a comprehensive market analysis, starting from the definition of the primary target stakeholders for the Centre of Excellence, especially regarding provision of applied research, contract research, consultancy as well as other innovation-centric actions (e.g., know-how and training). The analysis will also include identification of significant market trends and factors influencing the potential “customers” of applied research services (e.g., local industry or public administrations) and partners required in order to establish the targeted innovation ecosystem.
An additional objective will be the definition of the “business positioning“ of the Centre of Excellence, meant as the description of activities and services of the Centre, including applied or contract research, consulting activities etc. Services and activities to be performed will be identified based on the strengths and weaknesses of the current ecosystem, the expected level of demand for the different services, the number of potential “clients” (i.e., industrial stakeholders to which contract research activities could be targeted) and the perceived gaps and needs on the market.
A comprehensive analysis will be carried on to identify collaboration situation reflecting the activities of the Centre of Excellence in Europe and possible partners (at both Romanian and EU level) and cluster potentials. The analysis will identify the profile of national and international partnerships needed for establishing actionable and productive links and bridges between the Centre of Excellence and a strategically defined number of public and private external stakeholders. The focus will be on identifying first the most relevant profiles, and then single out the added-value of the different specific partnerships in terms of capacity building and the models to be implemented for win-win and long-term collaborations in the long-term.
The analysis will also include identification of critical success factors such as:
Building on results of the previous specific objective #7, the activities of the project will include editing of the key
set of reference documents for the formal activation and operation of the Centre of Excellence, e.g.:
The aforementioned achievements will be functional to the definition of an operational plan that will include a full description of the different phases of development for the activities of the Centre, the practical milestones to be achieved as well as the infrastructure, equipment needed for its activities with a time horizon of five operating budgets as well as the service-oriented administration of the Centre.
The business planning activities will also include the definition of a detailed financial plan accounting for multi-year projections for expenses (including those required for provision of hardware, technologies and infrastructure) and financial resources from multiple sources of revenues will be considered and forecast, including:
In parallel to the definition of the operational and financial plans, and on the basis of the scientific and innovation
long-term plan, the analysis will identify a strategic growth roadmap, which will project a long-term growth path accounting for financial and strategic choices. The analysis, which will be then updated every year, will ensure in the long-term leadership based on most relevant opportunities, trends and technologies yet accounting for organisational and financial aspects in order to ensure a financially sustainable growth path for the Centre.
In addition to the previous objectives, all converging to the creation of a sound business plan for the Centre of Excellence, the phase 1 of the project will also aim at the creation of a suitable ecosystem at the national Romanian and EU level, through a number of capacity building and dissemination activities, which will involve the RTD community, the local governments, the industrial world, the wide pool of stakeholders involved related initiative at national and international level as well as representative from investor community.