Innovations that allow the development of new product are often linked to collaboration between private companies and public research laboratories. This collaboration mostly involves big companies, which have the most important absorptive capacity. To increase this capacity Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) can get closer to the public research by working in technological parks or by cooperating to establish joint ventures in R&D. This second solution is generally chosen by companies involved in the same supply chain. We present the case of an association between rival companies in the plant breeding sector for fruit production. The initiative for this association came from a public sector laboratory which persuaded these SMEs to cooperate in order to be able to work with it. This example of organizational and technical innovation allows us to investigate the specific features of public sector research that allow it to take part in private sector innovation.