To achieve relevant research results, collaborative research is deemed essential in several engineering and management disciplines. When the addressed research questions are associated with larger societal challenges the need for collaboration between various actors and disciplines becomes even more urgent. In this paper, the development of a transdisciplinary research initiative aiming at supporting long-term ability for the manufacturing industry to succeed with the green transition, is described. The transdisciplinary research programme ´GRACE - Green acceleration through integrated and platform-enabled product realisation´ is an eight-year project (4+4 years), involving eleven manufacturing industries and four industrial networks. The research programme GRACE is the result of a close collaboration between industrial partners and academic researcher for almost one year. We have through workshops and various meetings jointly formulated a research agenda, based on eight research issues: (1) requirement specification and management, (2) platform principles and lifecycle strategies on different system levels, (3,4) product design and production solutions supporting circular strategies, (5,6) product and production information management, (7) shared understanding and visions, and (8) knowledge integration, operationalisation and implementation. Based on these research issues, and the priorities among the industrial partners, three initial research projects have been developed. The development of the research programme applied a co-production process, including a distinct pre-project phase. The creation of the transdisciplinary programme GRACE required trust among the involved partners, an open atmosphere, structure, joint understanding among the participants, time to read and think, and some stubbornness.