4th Annual Meeting of Collaborative Laboratories (colab) and 1st Annual Meeting of Technology and Innovation Centers (CTI) took place on November 16, at the Pavilion of Knowledge, in Lisbon.
Between 2021 and 2022, CoLAB angariaram 647 customers, increasing 80% face to 2021.
Colab and CTI aggregate among its associates more than 3 300 entities, of which 87% are companies.
There are currently 41 entities in Portugal recognized as Collaborative Laboratories (colab) in strategic areas such as Health, Energy and Sustainability, Digital and Agri-food Transformation and 31 Technology and Innovation Centers (CTI). Distributed throughout the national territory, they contribute to the appreciation of knowledge and its integration into the economy. For the fourth year, the outlook of the colab activity will be presented. The CTI will have its first annual meeting with presentation of results. Last year alone, CTI invoiced its customers 107 million euros (M€). The colab doubled their sales to €8 million between 2021 and 2022.
Celebrating 30 years of innovation agencies in Portugal, the National Innovation Agency (ANI), entity responsible for monitoring and monitoring colab and CTI, entities with an interface role between scientific research and industry, holds the annual meetings of colab and CTI, in an event that brings together some of the main actors of the National Innovation System, on November 16, at the Pavilion of Knowledge, in Lisbon. Under the theme “Innovation and Technological Enhancement towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)”, the initiative also integrates the Annual Meeting of Academic Technology Transfer Offices (TTO) and the final of the national competition for entrepreneurship BfK Ideas.
Funded by Missão Interface, under the PRR, the colab and the CTI currently have € 193 million to increase and consolidate their activities, in order to promote the appreciation of knowledge, competitiveness and internationalization of the Portuguese economy.
The annual report of the colab reveals that these structures not only surpassed, at the end of 2021, the goal at the level of highly qualified employment hiring (639 staff, of which 32% PhD), many of which in the interior of the country, but also attracted 416 clients in 2022, 80% more than the previous year. In this increase of the portfolio to a total of 647 customers, between 2021 and 2022, the areas “Agrifood” (160), “Materials, Circular Economy and Urban Sustainability” (126) and “Health” (113) stand out.
Since the beginning of their activity in 2019 and until 2022, colab recorded an aggregate sales volume of 8 M€, increasing the volume registered last year by 79%, highlighting the areas of “Materials, Circular Economy and Urban Sustainability” (1.7M€), “Health” (1.5M), and “Energy and Sustainability” (1,4M€).
55.5% of the CTI activity is financed from its own revenues
Involving about three thousand entities, 90% of which companies, the CTI have their own revenues as the main source of financing (55.5%), having, in 2022, achieved sales of a total of 107 M€.
Currently, CTI employs more than 3,300 people directly involved in Research & Development, of which 38% are PhD candidates.
It should be noted that the focus on supporting the creation of colab and CTI has not only contributed to the diversification of the entities that make up the National Innovation System, but has had strong implications for the creation of highly qualified employment.
António Grilo, president of ANI, believes that these entities play a key role in the contribution that the national scientific and technological system can make to the major global challenges: “Interface institutions are in a privileged position to contribute collaboratively to the resolution of problems that affect us all, placing academia, scientific and technological institutions, companies and society working together to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.”
See the full reports:
Colab 2023 Annual Report
