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Good practice Imported

SARIO & SBA — Slovakia's SME Internationalization Support Programme

Slovakia · Bratislava · See the Slovakia profile · See the Bratislava profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 64% 62/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Since 2017, Slovakia's SARIO and SBA have helped 1,100+ SMEs with export and internationalization services, but an independent government evaluation found only modest, delayed financial gains among participants.

1,100+
SMEs supported since 2017
19 of 90
Firm-year comparisons showing significant change (2022 re-analysis)
SARIO & SBA — Slovakia's SME Internationalization Support Programme

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
SARIO (Slovak Investment and Trade Development Agency) & Slovak Business Agency (SBA)
Period
2017–2023 (Phase 1); successor project continuing 2021–2027
Keywords
SME support, export promotion, internationalization, trade advisory

Context

Slovakia's Support for the Internationalization of SMEs programme, delivered by SARIO and the Slovak Business Agency under the EU's Operational Programme Integrated Infrastructure, ran 2017-2023 with a successor continuing to 2027.

Results

SARIO reports supporting 1,100+ SMEs with close to €3 million in advisory and matchmaking services. The Ministry of Economy's independent evaluation counted 405 firms served by SARIO and 614 by SBA through 2019, with most indicators reaching 85-100% of targets by end-2022.

Conclusions

The same evaluation found no systematic improvement in supported firms' financial indicators the year after participating (2020 analysis), and only 19 of 90 firm-year comparisons showed a statistically significant change (2022 re-analysis); two sub-activities underperformed so badly they were cancelled in 2021.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k)
Time to results
Long (> 3 years)
Staffing & skills
SARIO and SBA advisory and matchmaking staff

Conditions for success

  • EU-funded operational programme continuity into the successor 2021-2027 project

Common failure modes

  • two sub-activities cancelled in 2021 for underperformance
  • excessive administrative burden and exclusion of Bratislava-region firms flagged as weaknesses

Commonly funded by

ERDF — European Regional Development Fund National / regional programmes

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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