Raluca Buzac

Biography

My name is Raluca Cibu‐Buzac, I am Director for Regional Policy and Internationalization within West Regional Development Agency based in Timisoara, Romania. The organisation is an NGO created by law, and its mission encompasses tasks that are usually the prerogatives of a regional government, e.g. regional planning and policymaking, management of EU pre-accession and currently Structural Funds, regional innovation, FDI attraction and international co-operation.
I was born in 1975 in Alba-Iulia, a major historical city in the Center of Romania, and I spent my education years in the Western part of Romania, in the cities of Arad and Timisoara. Already starting with high school, I traveled throughout Europe for training, summer schools, cultural visits, social impressions and intercultural learning. I graduated Journalism‐English Language and then continued studies in the field of European Policy. I always felt that the international aspect was a part of my professional vocation, so in 1999 I chose to become a member of the young team of West RDA, by then in its first year of existence. I have engaged extensively in the institutional development of our agency, as well as in the mission to stir up and support the implementation of avant‐garde projects in our Region. I have been always seeking to explore understand, innovate, renew and generate changes in the minds and creations of my team in the agency, of our regional partners and of our policy and decision makers inn the Region and in Romania.
I have been constantly working with a large network of personal contacts in Europe, built during visits, conferences or international projects. It is a joy and a reward for me to invest in trustful relations with our international partners and to bring more value to what we do every day through the “informal” and “human” knowledge that we share about our regional development professions. The presence of West Region Official Delegation as a Guest of Honour at La Baule World Investment Conference in 2006 is an example of my team’s work in the field of international relations.
During the almost 9 years with the agency, I have gained extensive information on economic development, innovation policy, innovation management, research-industry links, cluster development i.a. throughout the projects that I manage, including the Regional Development Strategy of our Region, Techimpulse – Regional Center for Innovation and Technology Transfer, ICT Cluster, or throughout the work that I did in European expert groups, e.g. IRE Steering Committee, EURADA or DG Research “Blueprints for Foresight”, Group of National Senior Officers for the EC Strand 3 innovation support projects.
I acted as a lecturer for the Faculty of Political Science beginning with 1999 until 2006, and for 2 years now I teach at the Faculty of Economics – West University of Timisoara. I enjoy investing in the empowerment of the students to become high quality professionals, and, as a matter of fact, we recruited several excellent graduates for our agency already.
I consider that my career is one of my passions, along with my family, the equestrian farm that I own, travelling, writing, Reiki or playing piano.

This biography was last updated on September 19, 2008