A longitudinal single-case study method was adopted to analyze the dynamic evolution of governance mechanisms and trust building in cross-border industry-university-research collaboration (CIURC) at different cooperation stages. The findings are as follows: ①the early operational foundation of multinational enterprises in the host country serves as the cornerstone for the smooth implementation of CIURC projects; ②in CIURC, the “governance-trust” relationship exhibits a phased evolutionary pattern of “complementary adaptation-interactive enhancement-symbiotic integration”, and the two promote each other and drive the value co-creation among different cooperative entities;③the roles and status of each cooperative entity will change as the cooperation deepens. Among them, multinational enterprises provide the fundamental conditions for the formation of cooperation, universities serve as the main sources of knowledge innovation and value co-creation in CIURC, and the participation of government departments and other enterprises is an important driving force for achieving value co-creation.