In 1999, the office has been renamed to “Austrian Science and Research Liaison Office Ljubljana”. Since 2004, ASO Ljubljana is being coordinated by the Centre for Social Innovation (ZSI) and extended its activities to SEE countries. During the last 20 years, ASO Ljubljana was involved in some historical highlights regarding the promotion of scientific co-operation in WBCs:

■ Initiation and co-organisation of the international conference “Participation of Western Balkan Countries in EU RTD Framework Programmes” in the European Parliament in February 2005

■ International conference “Why invest in science?” in cooperation with UNESCO Venice office and the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology of Republic of Slovenia in Ljubljana, September 2006

■ Co-organisation of the international conference “Contribution of Research and Technology Development (RTD) to Developing Sustainable Knowledge-Based Economies in Central and South East Europe” Dubrovnik, Croatia, May 22 and 23, 2009

On September 29, ASO Ljubljana celebrated its 20th anniversary of existence at the University of Ljubljana with high-level representatives of the Austrian and Slovenian Ministries of Science expressing their great satisfaction with the past and present excellent level of bilateral and multilateral scientific cooperation between both countries. They reiterated the will to continue the successful way of joint efforts towards the promotion of an integration of WBCs into the European Research Area.