PREFABRICADOS LUFORT SLU

Their core work

PREFABRICADOS LUFORT SLU is a Spanish manufacturing SME based in Chiva, Valencia, whose core business is prefabricated products — most likely structural or construction-related components given their name. Through EU funding they pursued two distinct commercial pivots: first a feasibility study to reconvert their production toward ultra-high performance fiber reinforced concrete (UHPFRC), and then a full SME Instrument Phase 2 project developing the Formex® raft, a proprietary floating structure designed to modernize mussel aquaculture in Europe. The Formex® raft is their most commercially developed innovation, backed by €320,000 in EU funding and representing a deliberate move from construction materials into the food production equipment market. Their trajectory shows a company with strong materials and manufacturing foundations that is actively seeking higher-margin product niches.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Both projects fall within a tight 2015–2017 window, so the evolution is less about long-term drift and more about a deliberate strategic pivot. IDIFOR (2015) probed whether the company could move upmarket in construction materials via UHPFRC — a logical extension of prefabrication. By 2016, the Formex® raft project (SELMUS) became the primary commercial bet, moving entirely into food/aquaculture equipment rather than construction. The absence of any follow-on UHPFRC projects suggests the mussel farming raft was the stronger commercial opportunity and the direction LUFORT chose to pursue.

LUFORT appears to have committed to food-sector aquaculture equipment as their innovation pathway, abandoning the construction materials diversification after the feasibility phase in favor of the Formex® raft as a standalone product.

How they like to work

LUFORT has acted as coordinator on both of their EU projects, with no record of joining other consortia as a partner — a pattern typical of SME Instrument recipients, which by design are solo or near-solo endeavors. Their network of only one unique partner in one country reflects a company that innovates internally and seeks funding to develop its own products rather than to collaborate in large multi-partner programs. Anyone considering working with them should expect them to want a lead or co-lead role rather than a supporting position.

LUFORT has the smallest possible EU network — one partner in one country across two projects. This is characteristic of SME Instrument projects, which do not require large consortia, so the thin network reflects the funding instrument rather than a deliberate isolationist strategy.

What sets them apart

LUFORT is one of very few manufacturing SMEs that has successfully bridged structural prefabrication expertise into marine aquaculture equipment, culminating in a proprietary branded product (Formex®) with EU market ambitions. Their completion of both SME Instrument phases — feasibility through to market deployment — indicates real commercial execution ability, not just research interest. For consortium builders in the food or blue economy space needing a manufacturing partner with a physical product and market-entry track record, LUFORT offers an unusual combination of materials know-how and aquaculture application.

Highlights from their portfolio

• SELMUS
  The flagship project: a €320,081 SME Instrument Phase 2 grant to commercialize the Formex® raft — a proprietary product targeting the entire European mussel farming market, representing LUFORT's largest and most commercially concrete EU-funded initiative.
• IDIFOR
  An SME Instrument Phase 1 feasibility study that reveals LUFORT's strategic thinking — they formally evaluated a UHPFRC pivot before choosing the aquaculture direction, showing structured technology strategy rather than opportunistic grant-seeking.