PRESENTATION OF GEA

FOUNDERS

GEA is a not-for-profit independent think-tank established in June 2004.The founding members are nine young economists plus the Romanian Economic Society (SOREC), which is a reputed professional association (founded in 1992) reuniting some of the most prestigious economists active in academic and research activities.

The individual founding members have a prestigious economic education and background as follows:

RESEARCH FELLOWS

For developing its projects, GEA’s policy is to attract, apart from its founding members, research fellows as well:

PROGRAMME COORDINATORS

GEA's projects are carried on with the permanent support of a programme coordinators staff:

Diana Spiridon
Alina Daniela Bacanu
Anca Rusu
Silvia Toma

MISSION

The mission of The Group of Applied Economics (GEA) is to provide an independent research capacity for all aspects of applied economics in Romania, to contribute to the economic policy debate in Romania and to provide public policy solutions for the economic problems currently faced by Romanian society.
GEA wants to contribute to Romania’s economic transition and development by putting together the expertise of a number of young, yet professional economists. GEA is a young and ambitious NGO, which taps the potential and the expertise of the new generation of Romanian economists, especially those who have studied abroad in prestigious universities.
GEA aims also at helping local business to face the EU competitive pressures, by actively promoting economic competitiveness.
GEA is committed not only to macroeconomic analyses, but to a large extent to market studies, and various aspects of applied economics. We want to become an important partner for individual firms and business associations.

GOVERNANCE STRUCTURE

GEA is run by an Executive Committee, which has three members. One of the members is the Executive Director, another member is the Director of Research. The General Assembly of GEA nominates the Executive Committee for a two years period.
Each member of GEA is then responsible for a specific programme action (such as trade and investment, budgetary policy, EU integration, competitiveness, etc). All programmes must be supervised by the Director of Research. Financial and strategic decisions are taken by the Executive Committee, subject to the approval, in regular meetings, by the General Assembly.
Apart from its founding members, GEA attracts and promotes young researchers to work on a project-basis, or even on long term relationships as research fellows. GEA currently has a pool of more than 10 part-time researchers, in excess of the original founding members, which are also actively involved in the projects developed by GEA.

STRATEGY FOR INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

GEA's strategy for institutional development has four pillars:

Securing more than 50% of financing from private sources. This is a significant objective, given the fact that many research groups in Romania depend on public contracts. The current level of public financing in our total funds is below 6%.

Developing partnerships with local business groups and business associations, as the local potential for financing research has been under-used in Romania until now. We have already started such a cooperation with the Association of Employers Confederations in Romania - which covers about two thirds of the country's GDP, and with the Federation of Employers in the Textiles and Clothing Industry - which covers about one third of the country's exports. Other important partnerships are those in the field of regional development, concluded with The Regional Development Agency North-West and The Regional Development Agency West

Participating in national and international networks of research. GEA is already a member of two such networks: AMASES (econometrics and applied mathematics) and LDN (Local Development Network). GEA is also the exclusive partner for Romania of the World Economic Forum.

Increasing GEA's awareness and presence in the public opinion, through various research initiatives which can have a public impact.