What c5Lab does

c5Lab - Sustainable Construction Materials Association is a Portuguese non-profit Collaborative Laboratory (CoLAB) founded in 2019, headquartered in Linda-a-Velha, Portugal. It was established as a consortium of five institutional partners: ATIC (the Portuguese Cement Industry Technical Association), CIMPOR and SECIL (Portugal's two largest cement manufacturers), Instituto Superior Técnico (IST, contributing five research centers including IN+, CERIS, CERENA, CQE, and NanoMatLab), and LNEC (the National Laboratory for Civil Engineering). The organization operates three physical sites in Linda-a-Velha, Maceira, and Souselas, leveraging the equipment and resources of its partners' existing laboratories in a decentralized network model.

C5Lab's research portfolio addresses the full cement production chain, including CO2 capture and reuse (calcium looping with waste-derived sorbents), synthetic fuels production (Power-to-Gas, Power-to-Liquids, and Digital Mirror Climate technologies), eco-efficient cements (low-carbon clinkers, calcined clays, recycled construction demolition waste, 3D-printed concrete), energy efficiency, and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) modeling. The organization also delivers consulting services (LCA, Environmental Product Declarations, industrial symbiosis advisory), technical training programs, and digital decision-support tools. Its collaboration with CIMPOR and SECIL provides access to real industrial data and flue gas from operating cement plants for laboratory testing.

C5Lab is funded through a combination of partner contributions, competitive public R&D grants (FCT, Horizon Europe), and fee-based R&D and consulting services. It holds the Collaborative Laboratory title formally recognized by FCT, which was renewed in May 2023 for another five years. The organization is governed by a Board of Directors, led by an Executive Director (Margarida Mateus) responsible for strategic projects and the R&D pipeline, and a Scientific Council chaired by an IST full professor. Its GTM is sales-led, targeting enterprise clients in the cement and construction industries as well as public policy stakeholders seeking evidence-based inputs for environmental regulation.

Name

c5Lab

Legal name

C5Lab - Sustainable Construction Materials Association

Website

https://c5lab.pt

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

c5Lab is a Portuguese non-profit Collaborative Laboratory (CoLAB) that conducts R&D, LCA consulting, and technology development in sustainable construction materials, serving cement manufacturers, construction companies, and public policy stakeholders in Portugal and Europe.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Sustainable Construction Materials R&D

NAICS

Scientific Research and Development Services (5417), Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (54171), Professional Organizations (81392)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Supplier Engagement & Value-Chain Decarbonization Programs (EUABAKAE)

akta.pro secondary industry

Sustainability Testing, Certification & Compliance (LCA, Recyclability/Compostability Testing, FSC/PEFC) (IMALAMAK)

Keywords

• Sustainable construction materials
• Cement decarbonization research
• Life cycle assessment
• Collaborative laboratory
• Industrial symbiosis consulting

Headquarters

HQ city

Linda-a-velha

HQ country

Portugal

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Research and Development Services: C5Lab provides specialized R&D services including LCA consulting, technology scouting, experimental analysis, and experimental development to industry partners and public sector clients in the cement and construction sectors.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

c5Lab is a non-profit Collaborative Laboratory (CoLAB) that delivers R&D and consulting services to the cement and construction industries. It develops sustainable construction materials, low-carbon cements, CO2 capture and reuse technologies, life cycle assessment (LCA) models, and digital decision-support tools, and provides industrial symbiosis consulting and technical training. It operates through a decentralized network of partner laboratories combining academic research centers with industrial partners.

Product overview

C5Lab operates as a Collaborative Laboratory (CoLAB) focused on sustainable construction materials, providing an integrated R&D platform that combines research services and consulting. The portfolio includes CO2 capture and reuse technologies (calcium looping, green hydrogen integration), Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) consultancy, low carbon cement development, and digital decision-support tools. Additional offerings encompass industrial symbiosis consulting and technical training programs. C5Lab connects science, technology, and industry through five institutional partners: ATIC (cement association), CIMPOR, SECIL, Instituto Superior Técnico, and LNEC.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• CO2 Capture and Reuse Solutions

Quantifiable outcome

• Industrial symbiosis implementation in European cement industry can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 6-12%
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• ATIC - Associação Técnica da Indústria de CimentocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerATIC, the Portuguese Cement Industry Technical Association, founded in the 1960s, partnered with CIMPOR and SECIL to establish C5Lab. ATIC monitors legislative procedures affecting the cement industry and disseminates value created by cement products. ATIC's associates include CIMPOR, SECIL, and CMP.
• CIMPOR Portugal & Cabo Verde OperationscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCIMPOR is the national leader in the cement sector with roughly 60% of Portuguese market share. With plants in Alhandra, Loulé, Souselas and a grinding station in Murtas, CIMPOR has annual production capacity of 8.4 million tons. Acquired by OYAK in 2019.
• SECIL - Companhia Geral de Cal e CimentocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSECIL operates three cement plants in Portugal (Outão, Maceira and Cibra) and has international presence in Angola, Tunisia, Lebanon, Cape Verde, Netherlands, and Brazil. With eight cement plants across seven countries on four continents, SECIL Group guarantees annual cement production capacity of over nine million tonnes.
• Instituto Superior Técnico (IST)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIST, the largest school of Architecture, Engineering, Science and Technology in Portugal with a community of over 10,000 people, participates in C5Lab through five research centers: IN+ Center for Innovation, Technology and Policy Research, CERIS, CERENA, CQE, and NanoMatLab.
• LNEC - Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia CivilcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLNEC is a public institute of Science and Technology with State Laboratory status that carries out research in all fields of civil engineering, providing a unique multidisciplinary perspective for C5Lab's research activities.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Tecnalia: Tecnalia is a Spanish applied research center that operates a similar industry-academia consortium model focused on construction materials, decarbonization, and circular economy — directly comparable to c5Lab in both structure and sectoral focus.
• Instituto de Ciência e Tecnologia de Materiais e Engenharia (IST-ID): IST-ID is the institutional arm of Instituto Superior Técnico focused on materials and engineering R&D. It is one of C5Lab's founding partners through CERIS, CERENA, CQE, and NanoMatLab, making it the closest academic peer and overlapping collaborator in cement and construction materials research.
• Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia de Catalunya (IETcc-CSIC): The Eduardo Torroja Institute for Construction Sciences is a Spanish CSIC research center focused on cement, concrete, and construction materials science — directly comparable research scope to c5Lab's low-carbon cement and LCA programs.
• Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil (LNEC): LNEC is a Portuguese public R&D institute focused on civil engineering research, including cement and concrete materials. It is both a c5Lab founding partner and a comparable research body providing overlap in materials testing and construction standards.
• Idener Research & Development: Idener is a Spanish private R&D company focused on industrial decarbonization, CCUS, and circular economy — overlapping with c5Lab's research areas (CO2 capture, synthetic fuels, industrial symbiosis) and competing for similar EU Horizon funding streams.

Broad incumbents

• BRE (Building Research Establishment): BRE is a UK-based building science center providing research, testing, certification (BREEAM), and LCA services for sustainable construction. Comparable to c5Lab in mission and LCA focus, but operates at much larger scale with global brand recognition.
• Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics (IBP): Fraunhofer IBP is a German applied research organization conducting R&D on sustainable construction materials, LCA, and building decarbonization. Operates as part of the broader Fraunhofer network with significantly larger scale than c5Lab but comparable mission.
• VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland: VTT is a Finnish government-owned applied research center covering sustainable materials, low-carbon construction, and CCUS — providing comparable R&D services to c5Lab but at significantly larger scale and broader sectoral scope.
• TNO (Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research): TNO is a Dutch applied research organization with construction materials, circular economy, and industrial decarbonization programs. Operates a similar industry-academia bridge model but at national scale across multiple sectors beyond cement.

Emerging players

• Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon: Hereon is a German research center with strong programs in CO2 capture/utilization, alternative binders (calcined clays), and low-carbon construction materials — overlapping with c5Lab's CCUS and eco-efficient cement research.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles15 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about c5Lab