Challenges for entrepreneurial innovation: Startups as tools for a better knowledge-based economy

Through innovation and technology, there is a global movement to hasten national progress and development. The importance of fostering start-ups has risen to the top of the global agenda, and emerging nations are starting to acknowledge their crucial function as growth and development engines. It is critical to recognize and prioritize the need of building new, pertinent businesses that will create, develop, and support goods and services that suit societal demands and are important for Romania’s economic development. This research study examines Romania’s start-ups and innovation infrastructure to understand the entrepreneurial environment. Also, this study emphasizes the major obstacles that start-ups and entrepreneurs encounter, as well as evaluating creative technical breakthroughs to build a successful economy based on knowledge. Similarly, while intending to analyze the changes that start-ups and entrepreneurs bring to an economic, political, and social landscape, this study identifies the waves of opportunities that come with start-ups which are created for a better knowledge-based economy. Developing an ecosystem of innovation to deliver solutions to our society's needs and expectations would foster a start-up culture that is inclusive, efficient, and helpful to the entire society. In this context, we developed hypotheses and a study model based on Sem-Pls methodology, which were validated using an online questionnaire. SmartPls4 software was used to process the data, and all research hypotheses were validated.