CoLABOR

What CoLABOR does

CoLABOR is a Portuguese non-profit collaborative laboratory (Laboratório Colaborativo) founded in 2018 in Lisbon and certified by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) to conduct research on work, employment, social protection, and the social and solidarity economy in Portugal and Europe. It operates a multi-stakeholder model that mobilizes academic institutions, associated corporates, public administration bodies, and social-economy organizations under the coordination of Manuel Carvalho da Silva, with a visible research team of approximately 13 doctoral and master's-level investigators and technicians. Its customer base spans Portuguese government agencies (Agência para o Desenvolvimento e Coesão, the Supreme Administrative Court, São Tomé e Príncipe national government), academic partners (IPPS-Iscte, DINÂMIA'CET-Iscte, CES-UC), associated corporates (Mota-Engil, Sonae, DST Group, CONFMINHO), and European research consortia.

The technology stack centers on DataLABOR, an open-access statistical and legal data platform covering Portuguese labor, employment, and social protection, complemented by LXStat, QuizLABOR (gamified data tool), annual Net Salary Simulators, and atlas visualization platforms (Atlas de Portugal na Europa, Atlas do Poder Local). CoLABOR's principal AI capability is the July 2026 deployment of large language models to extract structured information from Supreme Administrative Court rulings for jurisprudential analysis; complementary data modalities include structured statistical curation. Supporting research outputs include the annual TEPS series covering economic context, labor force, work and employment, remunerations, and social protection, plus policy-evaluation studies (CLDS, European funds impact, Programa Escolhas) and digital-maturity training for SMEs in partnership with business associations.

The organization has no commercial revenue or pricing model. Operations are funded through public R&D grants (notably Horizon Europe projects including INCA, FUTOURWORK, FEMENA, and REMAKING), project-based contracts with Portuguese government agencies, and institutional partnerships. Distribution is primarily through direct engagement with public institutions, open-access digital platforms, annual conferences (Jornadas CoLABOR), and academic collaborations, with no commercial sales channels.

Name

CoLABOR

Legal name

CoLABOR - Laboratório Colaborativo para o Trabalho, Emprego e Proteção Social

Website

https://colabor.pt

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

CoLABOR is a Portuguese non-profit collaborative laboratory, founded in 2018 and FCT-certified, that produces open-access labor market data (DataLABOR), annual research publications (TEPS), policy evaluations for government, and LLM-based jurisprudence analysis for the Supreme Administrative Court, serving public agencies, academics, and associated corporates.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Labor Market Research Services

NAICS

Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (54172)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYBPADAOAL

Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning (MEL) & Reporting for Donor Programs

Business & Public Services/International Organizations & Development/Donor Coordination, Grantmaking & Development Finance Programs

Keywords

• Labor market research
• Employment policy analysis
• Social protection research
• Statistical data platform
• Policy evaluation services

Headquarters

HQ city

Lisbon

HQ country

Portugal

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

CoLABOR is a non-profit collaborative laboratory that produces statistical research, policy evaluations, and policy-oriented publications on work, employment, and social protection in Portugal. It develops and maintains digital platforms (notably DataLABOR) that publish interactive statistical content on the Portuguese labor market, and provides training, consulting, and applied research services to public, academic, and social-partner clients.

Product overview

CoLABOR operates as a Collaborative Laboratory for Work, Employment, and Social Protection in Portugal. Its product portfolio centers on DataLABOR, an open statistical data platform providing free access to labor, employment, and social protection data. Supporting the core platform are complementary tools including QuizLABOR (interactive educational games), salary simulators, and atlas visualization tools. The organization also produces annual research publications (TEPS series) and provides policy evaluation services. CoLABOR's offerings span data infrastructure, public education tools, and consultancy services for government and institutional clients.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• DataLABOR Interactive statistical platform that aggregates and visualizes Portuguese labor market indicators (employment, unemployment, wages, social protection) for use by public administration, social partners, researchers, journalists, and the general public.
• QuizLABOR Interactive educational game that presents labor market and social protection concepts in a gamified format, intended for students, citizens, and outreach activities to disseminate research findings.
• Simulador Salário Líquido Online simulator that calculates net salary from gross pay under Portuguese tax and social security regimes, aimed at workers, employers, and policy analysts who need quick scenario estimates.
• Atlas de Portugal na Europa Geospatial atlas that contextualizes Portugal's labor market and social indicators within a European comparative framework, producing maps and comparative indicators for policy makers, researchers, and the public.
• Atlas do Poder Local Geospatial atlas focused on local government and municipal-level labor and social indicators in Portugal, supporting decentralized policy analysis by municipalities and regional bodies.
• LXStat Statistical platform developed for the Lisbon municipality providing access to local labor, social, and demographic indicators, used by the municipal administration, researchers, and citizens.
• TEPS - Trabalho, Emprego e Proteção Social (Annual Publication) Annual publication presenting the state of work, employment, and social protection in Portugal, synthesizing CoLABOR's research findings and serving as a reference document for policy makers, social partners, and academics.
• Policy Evaluation and Applied Research Services Applied research and policy evaluation services commissioned by public administration, social partners, and institutional clients, including impact assessments, sectoral studies, and policy briefs on work, employment, and social protection.
• Digital Maturity Training Program Training program on digital maturity aimed at workers, organizations, and public entities, delivered by CoLABOR as part of its applied activities on labor market transformation.
• LLM-based Jurisprudence Analysis System System based on large language models that supports the analysis of labor and social protection jurisprudence, used internally by CoLABOR's legal researchers and offered to institutional partners as a research and decision-support capability.

Quantifiable outcome

• Developed comprehensive reports on employment trends in Portugal analyzed through partnership with major companies including CONFEDERAÇÃO EMPRESARIAL DA REGIÃO DO MINHO, DST Group, Mota-Engil, and Sonae

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability4 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

16 partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• Relatorio Emprego em PortugalcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 26 May 2026Joint report on Employment in Portugal - Diagnosis and Public Policy and Business Strategy Recommendations, presented in partnership with associated companies.
• Confederacao Empresarial da Regiao do Minho (CONFMINHO)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOne of the associated companies participating in joint research on Portuguese labor market, contributing to employment diagnosis reports and policy recommendations.
• DST GroupcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAssociated company contributing to joint research initiatives on employment and labor market analysis, part of the network of corporate partners.
• Mota-EngilcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMajor construction and engineering group participating as an associated company in CoLABOR's research on employment and labor policies in Portugal.
• SonaecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMajor Portuguese multinational conglomerate as an associated company contributing to research on labor market dynamics and employment policies.
• IPPS-IsctecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInstitute for Public Policies at ISCTE conducting joint research including Atlas de Portugal na Europa, masterclasses programs, and PhD Population Sciences collaboration.
• Fundacao Jose SaramagomajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCultural foundation collaborating on the 'Deitar Maos ao Trabalho' conversation cycle, promoting public dialogue on work, culture, technology and the future of labor.
• FUTOURWORK ConsortiummajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerHorizon Europe funded project on future of work in tourism and hospitality sector, involving 8 partners from 6 countries, addressing labor precarity and worker wellbeing.
• INCA ConsortiummajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerHorizon Europe project analyzing the impact of big tech companies (Google, Amazon, Meta, Apple, Microsoft) on European societies and economies, with partners from 9 countries.
• SOCIEUX+minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEU technical assistance facility on social protection, labor and employment exchanges and best practice sharing.
• OSCE RFoMminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerOrganization for Security and Co-operation in Europe - Representative on Freedom of Media, co-organizing conference on Democracy and Journalists Safety.
• DINAMIA'CET-IsctecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerResearch center at ISCTE co-organizing the 9th Iberian Labor Law Meeting and collaborating on labor law research.
• FEMENA Project NetworkminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEuropean project dedicated to women's entrepreneurship research across Asia and Europe, supporting 80 researchers through international mobility.
• REMAKING Project ConsortiumminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerHorizon Europe project studying digital nomads in Portugal and the future of remote work, with consortium meetings across Europe.
• Chinese Academy of Social SciencesminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational scientific cooperation with visit exchanges as part of CoLABOR's internationalization strategy and promotion of scientific cooperation networks.
• AI4PA Portugal EDIHmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborative network dedicated to accelerating digital transformation of Public Administration through AI, data science and innovative technologies.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• WZB Berlin Social Science Center: Large German social-science research institute producing evidence on inequality, labor markets, and social policy. Comparable as an established European social-science research organization with policy-evaluation and quantitative data capabilities similar to CoLABOR's.
• CIES-IUL (Centre for Research and Studies in Sociology, ISCTE-IUL): Sociology research unit at ISCTE-IUL producing work on inequalities, labor, and social policy. Multiple CoLABOR researchers (e.g., Frederico Cantante, Sara Nunes) originated from CIES-IUL, making it a directly comparable sociology/labor research peer.
• DINÂMIA'CET-Iscte: Research centre at ISCTE-IUL focused on socio-technical dynamics of work, cities, and territories. Already a CoLABOR partner on the Iberian Labor Law Meeting and adjacent labor-law research, making it a directly comparable domestic academic research peer.
• Institute for Employment Studies (IES): UK-based independent research organization focused on labor market, employment policy, and workforce analysis. Its research-and-evidence-for-policy model closely mirrors CoLABOR's approach to Portuguese labor and social-protection intelligence.
• European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound): EU agency providing research, surveys, and data on working conditions, employment, and social policy across Europe — directly comparable to CoLABOR's mission of generating labor-market and social-protection evidence, but at the pan-European level.
• Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra (CES-UC): Interdisciplinary social science research centre at the University of Coimbra. Its Lisbon hub is co-coordinated by CoLABOR's coordinator, and the two organizations jointly host researchers — making CES-UC a direct academic counterpart in labor and social-protection research.

Broad incumbents

• International Labour Organization (ILO): UN agency producing global research, statistics, and policy standards on work, employment, and social protection. Same thematic remit as CoLABOR but operates at a global scale, serving as a broader incumbent whose datasets and frameworks CoLABOR's work often sits within.
• Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS): Brussels-based think tank providing EU-level policy analysis including employment and social policy. Comparable in role as an evidence-for-policy producer, but with a broader policy portfolio and EU-wide rather than Portuguese-collaborative remit.
• OECD Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs: OECD directorate producing comparative labor, employment, and social-policy research across member states. Substantively comparable to CoLABOR's labor-market evidence mandate, but at the intergovernmental level rather than the national-collaborative-lab level.

Others

• AI4PA Portugal EDIH: Portugal's European Digital Innovation Hub accelerating AI adoption in Public Administration. Directly relevant as a CoLABOR partner for digital transformation of public services, but ecosystem/enabler rather than a competing research lab.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/colaborpt

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles14 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about CoLABOR