Cooperation among companies, universities and local government in a Swedish context

The importance of the business context for company's development work has been stressed in previous research and substantial public resources are now being directed towards university–company interaction to generate innovations. However, cooperation between companies, the public sector and universities could be obstructed by differing logics and purposes for action. This paper examines the interaction among these three actor categories to clarify the possible benefits of becoming more actively involved in each other's development work. A case study in a Swedish context showed that the three actor categories entered into each other's domains in new ways, sharing resources and increasing the potential for innovation. We also found that cooperation allowed a fourth actor category, financiers, to be reached, thereby securing additional resources for the innovation activities, creating action space for cooperation, and for a fifth actor category in the form of independent cooperation facilitators.