Cluj County
From Roman Dacia's capital to Transylvania's Silicon Valley where 32,000+ companies and Romania's largest IT cluster drive the second city.
Cluj County exists because Roman Napoca became Transylvania's intellectual capital. Emperor Hadrian granted Napoca municipium status after Trajan's conquest; it became Colonia Aurelia Napoca and capital of Dacia Porolissensis. German settlers refounded it as Klausenburg in the 13th century. The city served as Grand Principality of Transylvania's capital before the 1867 Austro-Hungarian Compromise. Today Cluj-Napoca is Romania's second city and unofficial capital of Transylvania, housing the country's largest number of IT companies outside Bucharest. Babes-Bolyai University anchors a knowledge economy with 9 higher education institutions and 49 faculties; Porsche, Bosch, and Google have sponsored specialized courses. After Bucharest, Cluj has the most companies (32,000+ in 2014) and third-highest average earnings. The county's 6,674 km² spans Apuseni Mountains, Somes Plateau, and Transylvanian Plain. The 1974 addition of "Napoca" to the city name was Ceausescu's assertion of Romanian claims. Romania assumed the county from Hungary via the 1920 Treaty of Trianon. By 2026, IT and automotive technology will continue driving growth while the university-industry pipeline expands.