This paper examines the role of joint R&D institutes co-established by Chinese research universities and international enterprises. Guided by an analytical framework of institutional logics in the evolution of the Triple Helix model, this study aims to explore the institutionalization process of a joint R&D institute in the contexts of global and Chinese innovation systems; further, it analyzes which mingling institutional logics, respectively carried by a Chinese research university and an international enterprise, affect the collaboration between both parties moving from informal R&D collaboration toward an institutionalized organization. The case study method enabled the author to understand the complexity of the interlacing of international and national actors with regards to the joint R&D institutes. The contribution of the study to the existing literature is two-fold: on the conceptual front, it advances theoretical understandings of the interactions of institutional logics which result in varied patterns of joint R&D institute in a national context with transnational factors; on the empirical front, it examines the evolutionary path of a joint R&D institute established by a Chinese research university and an international enterprise.