Innovation is the only way the EU can maintain a strong, sustainable and competitive economy. However, at present there are large imbalances between degrees of innovation of EU countries. Statistics of 2018 and 2019 classify Romania as the least innovative country of EU. One solution to mitigate this drawback consists of development of collaborative networks that replicate the best models of innovation from advanced countries and adapt them to underdeveloped countries from Europe. Such a collaborative network was proposed by HPI Potsdam in 2018 to ULBS with the aim to create an active knowledge transfer center between academia and business/society in the Sibiu region. This paper describes how the center contributes to increasing competitiveness in the Sibiu region by creating collaborative networks, digital education and training platforms as well as fostering applied research projects building on HPI’s experience in Potsdam, Germany.