About us

The Slovenian Business and Research Association (SBRA), established on May 12, 1999, is an international non-profit association connecting business, research and local communities in Slovenia with the EU institutions and other public and private bodies at EU level.

Members of SBRA, both from the private and public sector, represent a wide-spectrum of Slovenian interests, from the fields of business, research and cities.

SBRA puts primary focus on issues common to all its members, such as knowledge-based competitiveness defined by the Lisbon Agenda and Europe 2020 strategy. Besides directly representing the interests of its members, at a more general level, SBRA also represents the interests of Slovenian businesses, SMEs and crafts, cities as well as farmers and their cooperatives. SBRA has been created with the purpose to:

  • encourage cooperation between Slovenia, the European Union and its Member States in the domains of business, research and regional policy;
  • support members of the association in their full integration into the Union and facilitate their successful participation in Community programmes and initiatives

SBRA has been incorporated in Brussels as a non-profit association, an ‘aisbl’ according to Belgian law. Members of SBRA manage and control their association through the following bodies:

SBRA Success factors:

  • Defining clearly the mission:  understanding the pre-accession context, identifying the services needed by the stakeholders involved, and adequately structuring activities of the new entity. 
  • Leadership: clear project leadership was provided by senior representatives of Ministry of Science and Technology, and Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia, and with appointment of experienced project manager, this provided confidence on the part of partners joining as associated members.
  • Strong commitment by founding members: confirmed by the decision to secure seed money needed to start the project, and for its initial 3-years of operation.
  • Selecting a team capable to implement the project and provide services to members early from the start. If that would fail, the prospects of implementing the project successfully would be less than slim. Project manager has to keep constant communication with stakeholders and members.
  • Creating a management structure keeping key stakeholders involved and interested in implementation and development of the project.
  • Service provider attitude - SBRA has developed a system of membership by categories and corresponding, partly individualized services – constantly checking customer satisfaction and adapting services to changing needs of members.
  • Intensive networking with relevant offices in Brussels – as well as creating and coordinating some networks /NIROC, KEN/ - helped us in profiling the office and support European visibility of our members.

Management of SBRA:

  • Board of Directors is composed of 3 members who are appointed for a term of 4 years by the council, and confirmed by the general meeting. The board provides leadership of the SBRA, secures programme consistency  and takes care of good governance of SBRA-membership relations.
  • Council is composed of 11 representatives of effective members. its structure reflects the structure of SBRA membership representing the three spheres of activities: business, R&D, education and regional development. The council defines SBRA strategy and programme priorities
  • General Assembly is composed of representatives of all members, it’s role is to elect the members of the council and confirm the programme, annual report, financial plan and financial statement.