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AlmaScience is one of the success cases referenced in the first socioeconomic impact study of Collaborative Laboratories (CoLABs) in Portugal, presented on 21 May at Porto Business School (PBS). The study, conducted by PBS's Innovation X Hub under the coordination of Filipe Grilo and promoted by the Forum of Collaborative Laboratories (FCoLAB) in partnership with the school, analyses the contribution of Portugal's 41 recognised CoLABs to the national innovation system and identifies AlmaScience as an example of a CoLAB oriented toward corporate technological innovation.

Based on a survey of the CoLABs, the study concludes that the network generated €261.6 million in Gross Value Added between 2021 and 2025 and sustained 2,178 direct, indirect, and induced jobs. Over the same period, each euro of public funding channeled to CoLABs was associated with €2.27 of GVA in the economy, and approximately 81% of the public funding received returned to the State as direct, indirect, and induced tax revenue. The network's workforce grew by around 70% and its revenues more than doubled, with a significant shift from base funding toward competitive national and international funding – consistent signs of consolidation.

According to André Matos, President of FCoLAB, "this study confirms that CoLABs have moved beyond the pilot stage to assert themselves as a critical infrastructure for Portugal's knowledge economy. Today, CoLABs generate measurable economic impact, mobilize investment, create skilled employment with a high number of PhDs, and help companies and entire sectors innovate."

Across the chapters dedicated to systemic functions and impacts, the study cites AlmaScience in three distinct passages. In its analysis of the science-decision interface, it identifies AlmaScience as an example of a CoLAB that reports "an activity closer to corporate technological innovation, translating scientific and technological knowledge into roadmaps that support R&D, investment, and new-area exploration decisions". In a comparative reading of CoLABs, it notes that AlmaScience "acts primarily alongside companies". And in the chapter on organizational transformation, it refers to AlmaScience as an example of "the integration of dimensions such as business, marketing and innovation into R&D processes", to illustrate how collaboration with a CoLAB can reshape the internal governance of innovation within associated organizations.

According to Tatiana Costa, Director of Innovation, Funding and Intellectual Property at AlmaScience and member of the FCoLAB Executive Committee, "the study brings systematic evidence to a discussion that was still open – how to measure the value of structures operating between science and economic application. The €2.27 of GVA per euro of public funding and the 81% return via tax revenue are relevant figures, but the study's most useful contribution is its case for dedicated metrics, adjusted to the hybrid nature of these entities. For an organization like AlmaScience, which builds technological roadmaps with companies and is strongly focused on the generation and valorization of intellectual property, it is this multidimensional approach that makes it possible to rigorously assess the impact of our activity."

Luís Pereira, Technical Director at AlmaScience, adds: "The R&D roadmaps referred to in the study are not abstract planning exercises. They are technical/scientific commitments shared with companies that want to reduce risk and anticipate technological trajectories – in cellulose-based materials and other sustainable materials, green electronics, and smart packaging. The model works because it combines scientific knowledge with corporate R&D decisions that neither side could execute with the same efficiency in isolation. This is the logic the study describes with clarity."

AlmaScience sits on the Executive Committee of FCoLAB, which promoted the study in partnership with Porto Business School. AlmaScience recently announced three new strategic associates – MEXT (Mota-Engil Next), TMG Automotive, and Super Bock Group – bringing to 12 the organizations in its collaborative R&D Ecosystem, which also includes Imprensa Nacional – Casa da Moeda, The Navigator Company, Grupo Clara Saúde, and Firmo, among others. The expansion of the network of Associates reflects the approach identified in the study: R&D conducted jointly with companies, at the pace of their investment decisions.

👉 Read the study in full (in Portuguese).

About AlmaScience

AlmaScience is a collaborative innovation laboratory (CoLAB) and technology incubator for sustainable functional materials and green electronics, located in Caparica and Aveiro.
With a multidisciplinary team of 30+ researchers holding PhDs and Master's degrees in areas such as chemistry, biology, materials science, paper technology and electronics, AlmaScience bridges research and industry. It partners with companies to transform scientific research into commercially viable products, always with a focus on sustainability and the circular economy.

AlmaScience is at the center of the Sustainable Innovation Ecosystem, the result of a collaborative partnership between the CoLAB and key players in the Portuguese industrial ecosystem, including Imprensa Nacional – Casa da Moeda, The Navigator Company, Grupo Clara Saúde, Firmo, MEXT: Mota-Engil Next, TMG Automotive, Super Bock Group, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, NOVA.ID FCT, Raiz, Fraunhofer Portugal and the Municipality of Almada.

Notable technologies developed by AlmaScience include PaperWeight Digital (paper-based sensors) – licensed to AlmaScience's first spin-off and the first within the CoLAB ecosystem, PaperWeight AI, which develops smart shelves for retail –, PetriTag® (a biodegradable sensor for bacterial detection), and GELA (a rapid-cooling label for beverages).