SAIA NO

Their core work

SAIA (Slovak Academic Information Agency) is Slovakia's key service organization for researcher mobility and career development, operating as the national EURAXESS hub. They provide practical support services to mobile researchers — helping with visa logistics, social integration, job matching, and career guidance across Europe. Their work ensures that Slovakia remains connected to the European research talent pipeline by running information portals, training programmes, and bridging services between academia and industry.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their early H2020 period (2015-2018), SAIA focused squarely on traditional researcher mobility services — career development, job listings, gender equality, and running the national EURAXESS portal. From 2020 onward, their focus broadened toward open science, transferable skills training, lifelong learning, and piloting new "talent hub" models. This shift mirrors the EU's own policy evolution from basic mobility support toward making researchers more versatile and industry-ready.

SAIA is moving from passive information services toward active talent development and industry-academia bridging, making them increasingly relevant for projects needing researcher training or skills transfer components.

How they like to work

SAIA operates exclusively as a participant — never as coordinator — which is typical for national EURAXESS service centres that plug into large EU-wide networks. With 51 unique partners across 39 countries from just 4 projects, they work in very large pan-European consortia (averaging ~20 partners per project). This means they are well-connected and easy to integrate into large networks, but they are a service delivery node rather than a project driver.

Despite only 4 projects, SAIA has worked with 51 different partners across 39 countries — a remarkably broad geographic spread that reflects the pan-European nature of the EURAXESS network. Their connections span virtually all EU and associated countries.

What sets them apart

SAIA is Slovakia's institutional anchor for the EURAXESS network — a role that very few organizations per country hold. For any consortium needing a Slovak partner with deep connections to the national research community and hands-on experience managing researcher mobility, SAIA is the go-to choice. Their recent expansion into open science training and talent hubs adds value for projects that combine mobility with skills development.

Highlights from their portfolio

• EURAXESS TOP III
  Largest single EC contribution (EUR 132,038) and SAIA's entry point into the EURAXESS network's core operational projects.
• DISCOVERY LEARNING
  Marks a strategic pivot from pure mobility services to PhD-level training in open science and transferable skills — a different capability altogether.
• EURAXESS Hubs
  Piloted a new 'talent hub' model for researcher career support, signalling the next evolution of EURAXESS beyond traditional information services.