You are not alone if youare looking to collaborate across companies to foster innovation. There aresome common challenges that come up, like misaligned goals, culturaldifferences, and information silos. This whitepaper summarises some of thebest-practices to make collaborating across companies the game-changer itshould be. These learnings have been generated and applied in a high paced ideavalidation project of Wertstatt 8, the innovation unit of regional energysupplier Energie AG Oberösterreich together with the venture builder V_labs. Totruly succeed in cross company collaboration, you need to follow some crucialsteps. First things first: Be transparent about why you are doing this and makesure everyone involved is on the same page. This will save you some majorheadaches down the line. Next, assemble a team of experts who can combine theirdomain knowledge and leadership skills to keep the project moving forward. Anddon't forget the importance of clear communication and process facilitation! Whenit comes to making progress, speed is key. That means setting clearexpectations, timelines, and ways of working together. You want to avoid anystandstills that could slow down your progress once your project starts.Finally, prepare for tough decisions ahead of time. By being proactive andsetting up a solid decision-making process, you can avoid unnecessary downtimesin the future. By following these best practices, you will be well on your wayto collaborating efficiently and driving outcomes that connect domain knowledgewith a clear innovation process. Trust us, it is worth the effort!