This article presents an investigation of collaboration for a project in territorial competence management. It highlights the commitment of public and private partners in this process and reveals the organisation of territorial competence management. Partners develop better understanding of economic and social issues affecting their region through emergence of collaborative governance. Through shared experiences and expectations of territorial competence development, partners use their collective knowledge about work, employment actions and skills in need of development. Drawing on a French case study, our findings focus on the three founding elements of territorial competence management: collective governance, collective territorial knowledge and a local system context.