Abstract: Taking Industry－University－Research Institute (IUR) collaboration in the high-speed rail industry as the research sample, this paper attempts to explore the evolution of innovation ability of the academic institutions and enterprises that jump into the IUR collaboration. In this manner, the evolution mechanism of innovation ability of main body in the developing countries during the technology catch-up process will be revealed. This paper finds that both academic institutions and enterprises can get mutual benefits from the IUR collaboration in the pasteur quadrants (application-oriented basic research field). In particular, the IUR collaboration not only promotes the continuous evolution of enterprise technical ability (Digestion and absorption of technology → Improved optimization of technology → Original technological innovation) but also drives the continuous evolution of academic ability of academic institutions (Tracking the basic theory of cutting-edge science and technology → Radical research on cutting-edge science and technology → Pioneer research on cutting-edge science and technology). Moreover, this study also presents some inspiration for the developing countries which give impetus to industrial transformation and upgrading and accelerate the development of high-end equipment manufacturing.