This Researcher Insights contribution from Lena Brogaard explores innovation in cross-sector collaboration: “Innovation is often assumed a normative good — something to strive for in the public sector and the answer to the, by now, well-known challenges of rising public expenditure and complex social and demographic problems. Increasingly, cross-sector collaboration is considered a key method or model for creating the innovative products and services demanded or required to address these growing challenges. By combining competencies, knowledge, and resources across the public and private sectors, public-private partnerships (PPP) are expected to lead to innovative and more cost-efficient solutions that will benefit businesses, public organizations, and citizens. But whether innovation partnerships are always the answer or if there is a risk of unwanted changes or unintended effects from innovation is rarely considered. Innovation is a risky and uncertain process, which makes innovation partnerships difficult, as the end result or final product or process is not certain or known from the beginning. Moreover, partnerships are complicated; despite good intentions among partners, success is not easily achieved, as it can be both driven and inhibited by the differing interests, rules, and norms among multiple partner organizations.”