The goal of this project is to undertake an ethnographic action research study in which we will collect and analyze data from a cluster of companies focused on innovation and technological change. This study will look at how organizations within a triple helix of innovation may collaborate to create a common platform in the form of a testbed. In this case, the challenge of a sustainable transition can be addressed from the perspectives of all participants. Testbeds are an experimental and collaborative approach to qualify innovation policy that attempts to test, demonstrate, and promote novel socio-technical systems – as well as associated modes of governance - in a simulated environment under real-world settings. Industry, municipal and regional government, academia, and a public research institute are all represented in the cluster under consideration.

The assumption is that trust is essential for fostering collaboration within the triple helix paradigm of innovation. Trust, on the other hand, takes time to form and expand within the triple helix. Nonetheless, it enables collective investments based on common research, such as the design and development of technological demonstrators. These physical artifacts can be viewed as proof of the importance of collaboration, which strengthens collaborative efforts.