ZRS Bistra Ptuj is the first officially registered interdisciplinary research institution in Slovenia. It originates from the Bureau for strategically technological development or in short Bistra that was established by the former Commune of Ptuj for the needs of planning and guiding the development of the municipality and the future region in 1994. The basic activities of ZRS Bistra Ptuj are connecting and transferring knowledge from universities and institutes to economy and SMEs helping create developmental ideas and transferring them to research institutions.