Building on network, learning, resource-based and real options theories, collaborative innovation through the sharing of ideas, knowledge, expertise, and opportunities can enable both small and large firms to successfully engage in strategic entrepreneurship. We use the real case of a research-oriented organization and its incubator for analysis to strengthen our claim that inter-organizational network, co-learning, resource allocation and real options all have a positive impact on innovation performance for both the research-oriented organization and the start-up companies in the incubator.