Introductory paragraph: Within politics, research and large parts of Swedish industry, collaboration has been a buzzword for several decades. The importance of close collaboration and partnerships – between academia and industry, state and industry or all three sectors at the same time, or between suppliers and customers – is always taken for granted and seldom questioned. It seems to be assumed that such collaborations will result in innovation, increased productivity and sustainable development. With few exceptions, these claims are taken for granted and seem so self-evident that no evidence for such effects or any description of the causal mechanisms behind are ever given. The recent and ongoing shift across Europe and Sweden toward more interventionist industrial policies aimed at accomplishing system transformation and renewal constitute examples of how these ideas have gained even more popularity (Mazzucato, 2013).