This article analyses the impact of new forms of collaboration taking place between social actors and a group of university researchers. The analysis is driven from the collaboration that took place between the organization Parole d’excluEs and an innovative research center located in the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) : l’Incubateur universitaire en innovation sociale (Social Innovation University Incubator). The first section of this article presents the emergence process of the incubator. Then, the following sections answer three questions: 1) what are the specifics of the action research developed by the Incubator; 2) what are the implications and the limits of the citizens’ implication in the research process initiated by the Incubator; 3) what is the impact of knowledge coproduction on the day to day stakes faced by organizations that try to fight social exclusion and poverty.