One of the five headline targets of the Europe 2020 strategy is that the European Union allocates 3% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to Research and Development (R & D) activities [1,2]. Research and development is a specific effort to reach innovation. Innovation includes research and development without which a new product idea, a more advanced technology or an improved technique for marketing a product on the market cannot be reached [3]. Research and development is considered the first level in the innovation process - it is considered practically the "core of innovation". Without research and development, no new ideas can be generated and no solutions can be proposed to implement these ideas [4,5].

Especially in the last decades there has been a phenomenal increase in the interest for innovation as a way of achieving sustainable economic growth of organizations and society [6]. At present, we are living in an accelerated transition period marked by complex and profound transformations in all areas of activity. The magnitude of innovation is reflected primarily in the high pace of the development of new products and technologies but the changes do not just refer to tangible things [7].

The purpose of innovation is mostly to survive, to grow, to make a profit but what matters for innovation is how it affects the chances of survival, profit and growth opportunities. Given the importance of innovation it is clear that managers need tools that can help them to become more innovative [6].

The Innovation Process

Starting from this level of innovation, the innovation process can be viewed more extensively by including other actors involved [8]:

• Level 1: Employees in the company whose role is to implement the innovation created by the research-development activity. It is advisable, for the success of the process, that the employees contribute with new ideas to the improvement of the technological solutions initially identified

• Level 2: The company's customers, the direct beneficiaries of innovation, can contribute to the improvement technical solutions identified by formulating their own ideas. Thus, the company can ensure that the new product will be properly received by the customers for whom it was created

• Level 3: Community of innovators who can get involved in innovation by launching and participating in various debates on the topic, organizing conferences and proposing new solutions if necessary

• Level 4: The large public

The phrase “Research-Development and Innovation” (RDI) presents innovation as the last sequence of the cycle of activities carried out systematically to increase the amount of knowledge and their use in various fields of activity [5]. The Research-Development-Innovation cycle includes three sequences, defined below [8].

Scientific Research

Represents the activity aimed at finding new knowledge on matter, nature and society. Depending on the nature of the knowledge, the following differ:

• Basic (or fundamental) research: Experimental or theoretical activity initiated primarily for the accumulation of new knowledge on the fundamental aspects of observable phenomena and facts, without considering a specific application. Fundamental research analyzes properties, structures and relationships, based on which new hypotheses and theories are formulated

• Applied research: is aimed at metamorphosing the results of basic research into new solutions, products and technologies. It represents an original investigation in order to accumulate new knowledge but being oriented, mainly, towards a specific practical goal or objective

Development

Defines the activities based on the results of fundamental and applied research related to the production of new materials, products and services. It includes design activities and experimental activities to verify the solutions adopted in the design process.

Innovation

Defines the activities that ensure the application of research and development results in various fields of activity, in order to obtain useful results. Whether it is the assimilation of new products, technologies, structures, management methods or new economic models, a well-done innovation can determine advantages for the organization, for the society, for the people.                

Innovation therefore appears as a result of research and development actions (these being the restricted form of innovation). However, the innovation process does not overlap with the research and development process, being broader, depending on other potential actors involved in the process (employees, consumers,
communities of innovators, the general public) [9-11]. The research-development activity in modern companies is seen as an independent function along with the other functions of the company: financing, marketing, production. Given the link between innovation and research and development, it is necessary to analyze the level of the latter.

Innovation is by definition the creation of something new, a benefit generator or profit for the enterprise, while innovation involves the allocation of resources, both material and human and the outcome of the innovative process is difficult to control or predict [12]. The freedom to find innovative solutions is contradictory to the organizational and somewhat limiting nature of an integrated management system. In this context finding solutions for implementing innovation as part of integrated management systems is a challenge, being the main objective of this paper. The challenge is more difficult, since, there is no innovation management system similar to the quality management system or other management systems [6]. The existence of such a management system would make work easier by transforming the challenge only into choosing a model for integrating the innovation management system with an integrated management system model already in place [13].

In a competitive, changing environment, innovation and quality are key points for the development and survival of organizations in every field. Over time, organizations have learned to master the production process to such an extent that they no longer function as a significant competitive advantage. The new challenge is to master the innovation process-capitalizing on change, creating new competitive advantages by offering better products, using better processes, offering better services or even offering completely new solutions [14].

Conditions for Good Innovation at Organizational Level

The need for innovation is given by the requirements developed and the management of new products and services, which are determined by the existence of international competition, increasing consumer demand, rapid development of technological development and new rules and standards on environmental protection, good practices, etc. [6]. Innovation says the most important success factor in intense competition between companies, being advantageous only to companies that have gained new competitive advantages [12]. Innovation is materialized if our ideas are implemented in new products, services and processes, which find a real use on the market. Therefore, commercial success is more dependent on the company's ability to create new products, services and processes [15].

A study by McKinsey copany tells us that 84% of executives who participated in the research agree that innovation is important for their growth strategy. Taken out of any context, Innovation refers to “Novelty, change, modification” or, more precisely, “Change made in a field, system, etc. in order to improve his qualities." "Innovation" is the kind of word that, after being used so many times, in inappropriate situations, has lost its essence. Like "Creativity", everyone is creative, right?

Leaving aside clichés and connotations, however, innovation remains what businesses need most to be successful or simply to survive. If inventions represent new ideas, innovations represent the successful commercial application of those ideas, through processes that improve or create new products, services or, why not, new markets [2].

Based on the importance of carrying out innovation activities at the level of a company, importance highlighted and detailed above, it is essential to determine the conditions to be met by the company that wants to focus on this activity. Thus, the following mandatory conditions for ensuring good innovation at the level of an enterprise are outlined (Lansley, OCDE, Pianta):

• Supporting and encouraging the innovation activity by the management of the enterprise

• Ensuring a good circulation of information from the external environment to the company but also inside it, at the level of employees

• Period identification of market needs and its structure changes

• Maintaining a permanent and close connection with the scientific environment

• Encouraging the formation of ideas by different employees and their analysis

• Paying more attention in the formation of teams that aim to implement the ideas formulated in the conceptualization stage

Innovation is an important and defining element for the development of a society that operates in a constantly changing competitive environment. People's needs are changing rapidly lately and to adapt the organization to these changes and maintain a strong competitive advantage over competing companies, innovation can be an effective strategy in this regard.

Stimulating the Innovation Process in Organizations

Any enterprise will not be willing to pursue research and innovation unless certain privileges are ensured that would allow it to exploit and obtain benefits from the allocated investments and the risk it assumed when it initiated the innovation activity. The identification and use of techniques and methods to ensure the stimulation of the innovation process has been an object of careful concern for researchers and for those interested in exploiting the effects of innovation.

In the opinion of specialists in the field [16], it is considered that the following could contribute to the development of innovation processes [17-19]:

• The existence of forecast studies, which should provide the management team with pertinent information on the directions of evolution of the market requirements

• Manifestation of favorable situations at the market level, notified, for example, as a result of close ties with the company's customers

• An attitude favorable to innovative processes, manifested by the management team of the enterprise, materialized, for example, in accepting solutions or proposals that come from outside the specialized services or that have the capacity to make decisions related to innovative processes

• A rational policy of the enterprise, of concentration and distribution of the forces at its disposal on the directions of innovation of maximum intensity and maximum efficiency

• The existence of specialists who have the knowledge and motivations necessary to promote innovative processes

• Possibilities to better meet the specific requirements of the national market

• Reducing the competitiveness of older products, due, for example, to increasing the value of the wage component in costs

• The possibilities of imitating some innovative processes already manifested in other countries

The organization's management must act as a catalyst in the company, in terms of promoting, identifying, stimulating and rewarding creative people that contribute to achieving the company's goals, making it more efficient. The creative process can be seen as the starting point of innovation, which sets into motion a series of events culminating in the entrepreneurial event. Not all innovations are creative, for some innovations may be implementations of ideas developed by others and adapted for use locally or are minor incremental changes to existing products, services or processes.

In a competitive, constantly changing environment, innovation is an essential activity for the development/ survival of enterprises in any field. Also seen as an effective strategy for developing or maintaining a business, the innovation process can be hampered by the lack of access to finance and the company's inability to cover the cost of the process.

Innovations, in all their forms, can contribute to reducing the production costs of products and thus their selling price, ensuring the creation of an important competitive advantage for construction companies and beyond.

1. Wyckoff, A. and D. Pilat. "Innovation: Sensible Strategies for Sustainable Recoveries." OECD Observer, no. 279, 2010, pp. 27-29. https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri? eid=2-s2.0-77953932097&partnerID=40&md5=e3c826c dcc23cd9d64b682962dd32016.

2. OECD/Eurostat. Oslo Manual 2018: Guidelines for Collecting, Reporting and Using Data on Innovation. 4th ed., The Measurement of Scientific, Technological and Innovation Activities, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1787/978 9264304604-en.

3. Vadastreanu, A. et al. "Business Success by Improving the Innovation Management." Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Informatics in Economy: Education, Research & Business Technologies, Bucharest, 2015.

4. Andreassen, T.W. et al. "Business Model Innovation and Value-Creation: The Triadic Way." Journal of Service Management, vol. 29, no. 5, Emerald Group Publishing Ltd., 2018, pp. 883-906. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-05-2018-0125.

5. Maier, D. "Product and Process Innovation: A New Perspective on the Organizational Development." International Journal of Advanced Engineering and Management Research, vol. 3, 2018b, www.ijaemr.com. Accessed November 2018.

6. Maier, D. "The Romanian National Innovation Performance in the EU Context." International Journal of Advanced Engineering and Management Research, vol. 3, 2018e, www.ijaemr.com. Accessed November 2018.

7. Pinget, A. et al. "Barriers to Environmental Innovation in SMEs: Empirical Evidence from French Firms." Management, vol. 18, no. 2, 2015, pp. 132-155. https://doi. org/10.3917/mana.182.0132.

8. Popescu, M. Managementul Inovării. Brașov: Editura Universității Transilvania din Brașov, 2016.

9. Zhang, F. and K.S. Gallagher. "Innovation and Technology Transfer through Global Value Chains: Evidence from China’s PV Industry." Energy Policy, vol. 94, 2016, pp. 191-203. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2016.04.014.

10. Maier, D. "Integration of Management Systems - Key Issues for Sustainable Development of an Organization." International Journal of Advanced Engineering and Management Research, vol. 3, 2018a, www.ijaemr.com.

11. Dyck, B. and B.S. Silvestre. "A Novel NGO Approach to Facilitate the Adoption of Sustainable Innovations in Low-Income Countries: Lessons from Small-Scale Farms in Nicaragua." Organization Studies, vol. 40, no. 3, 2019, pp. 443-461. https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840617747921.

12. Maier, D. "Study on the Concerns of Romanian Enterprises in the Field of Innovation in the Context of Implementing an Integrated Quality-Environmental-Security Management System." International Journal of Advanced Engineering and Management Research, vol. 3, 2018d, www.ijaemr.com.

13. Maier, D. "Researchers Approaches on Innovation Process in the Construction Sector. "Proceedings of the 34th International-Business-Information- Management-Association (IBIMA) Conference, Madrid, Spain, 2019, pp. 6816-6824.

14. Maier, D. "Quality and Innovation as a Source of Sustainability in Construction Industry." International Journal of Advanced Engineering and Management Research, vol. 3, 2018c, www.ijaemr.com.

15. Rânea, C. et al. Bazele Managementului Inovării și Transferului Tehnologic. București, 2012. https://imnr.ro/ public/documents/curs-bazele-mangementului-itt.pdf.

16. Society, I. Procesul de Inovare Explicat pe Limba Tuturor, Partea I. 2019, https://innovatingsociety.com/inovatia-in-pasi-simpli/.

17. Edquist, C. et al. Innovation and Employment: Product versus Process Innovation. Edward Elgar, 2001.

18. Fagerberg, J. and D. Mowery. The Oxford Handbook of Innovation. Oxford University Press, 2006. https://doi. org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199286805.001.0001.

19. Dodgson, M. et al. The Management of Technological Innovation. Oxford University Press, 2008.