The text first present the method of quantified narrations, developed to evaluate embedding effects. Then i reports on the results of a survey on collaborations between laboratories and companies, which shows that if embeddedness isimportant in the initial contacts and the design of projects, it is then in tension with decoupling processes that tend to partially restore the control of collaborations to formal organizations. Afterward, it mentions a survey of start-ups and the evolution of interpersonal relations in access to resources, which reveals a similar phenomenon of initial embedding followed by partial decoupling. It concludes with some more general considerations on embedding and decoupling.