In 2025 alone, CoLABs generated €74.7 million in GVA and €26.5 million in tax revenue. Between 2021 and 2025, they mobilised over €300 million in collaborative innovation under the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) and secured more than €28 million in Horizon Europe projects.

The results, presented last Thursday in the presence of João Barros, President of the National Agency for Research and Innovation (AI2), reinforce the role of collaborative laboratories as a strategic infrastructure for innovation, knowledge transfer and economic development, at a time when the future funding of these entities is under discussion. There are currently 41 collaborative laboratories in Portugal.

Created to bring together science, businesses and society, CoLABs have established themselves as key instruments for transforming research into applied solutions with market impact, contributing to increased national competitiveness, reduced technological risk, and faster innovation processes in strategic sectors of the economy.

Collaborative laboratories do not compete directly with companies

According to the PBS study, CoLABs do not compete directly with companies; they primarily operate in contexts where there are market failures, a lack of installed technological capacity, or high levels of technical uncertainty, playing a decisive role in building new economic and scientific capabilities in Portugal.

For André Matos, Chairman of FCoLAB, this study confirms that CoLABs have moved beyond a pilot phase to become critical infrastructure for the knowledge economy in Portugal. Today, he noted, “CoLABs generate measurable economic impact, mobilise investment, create highly skilled jobs – with a high proportion of PhDs – and help companies and entire sectors to innovate.”

He further added that “the continuation of core funding for CoLABs should be understood as a strategic decision for the country’s future. These structures shorten the distance between science and the market, accelerate technology valorisation, and create the conditions for companies, regions and public administration to innovate with lower risk and greater capacity.”

“We are building critical technical capacity in areas where it is scarce, across the entire national territory. CoLABs are actively contributing to territorial cohesion, and this effect is still not being monitored as it should be,” warned Filipe Grilo.

The study also highlights that the functional diversity of collaborative laboratories is one of the model’s main strengths. Rather than representing fragmentation, this diversity enables responses to different challenges within the national innovation system, from industry and health to agriculture, sustainability, digitalisation and the blue economy.

The PBS analysis further concludes that CoLABs should be assessed using specific metrics aligned with their hybrid nature and interface role between science, technology, business and society. The impact of collaborative laboratories goes beyond direct economic indicators, also including systemic effects such as promoting territorial cohesion, retaining talent, building installed capacity, reducing technological risk, fostering collaboration among stakeholders and opening new pathways for economic development.

The study therefore recommends the development of a dedicated monitoring framework for CoLABs, with shared metrics reflecting their interface nature and capturing the systemic and territorial effects these structures generate within the national innovation ecosystem.

Collaborative Laboratory for the Blue Bioeconomy

B2E – Blue Bioeconomy CoLAB is a collaborative laboratory established in 2020, forming part of an ecosystem that brings together universities, research centres, companies, government and society. As a private non-profit association, B2E CoLAB focuses on the sectors of aquaculture, marine biotechnology and living marine resources.