The purpose of the research is to explore the conditions for transforming project partnerships into a strategic network, identify the key challenges facing individual participants, and outline research intentions for analyzing the transformation from operational to strategic interaction within the network. A case study of a university alliance of the non-spatial collaboration type is presented. The study of network connections through social network analysis is in its early stages but patterns of interaction are already emerging—subgroups (clusters) for which data are being generated for future research. GEPHI is applied for visualization. Due to the early stage of development of the Alliance, the study is still in a conceptual stage, outlining the main risks to interactive relationships within the network. These include managing subgroups, the collision between intra-organizational and network decision-making mechanisms, especially when there are institutional and cultural differences among participants, the balance between institutional and personal connections, and, broadly speaking, between formal and informal relationships within networks. A research intention is outlined based on the specifics of the case study.