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The purpose of this paper is to provide a community perspective on partnerships with the goal of researching, designing, developing and commercializing non‐timber forest products (NTFPs) based on indigenous knowledge and resources from Pikangikum First Nation, northwestern Ontario, Canada.

Framed by the Whitefeather Forest Research Cooperative agreement, a collaborative and ethnographic research design was adopted with the Whitefeather Forest Management Corporation and the Whitefeather Forest Elders Steering Group in Pikangikum First Nation. Over the period of two years, initial research planning meetings were held with community representatives, fieldwork and interviews with community Elders and leaders were conducted, and three community workshops were held.

Community Elders and leaders articulated a cautious interest in developing ethical, collaborative partnerships that support the Whitefeather Forest Initiative and the community's social, cultural, economic and environmental goals. Developing NTFPs through partnerships is a procedural issue that requires giving Elders a primary role in advising and guiding partnerships at all stages of NTFP planning, research and development. Partners would be expected to build respectful and diligent partnerships that interface knowledge systems, maintain good relations, and generate mutually defined benefits.

This community‐specific approach provides insight for Aboriginal groups, governments, universities, and corporations seeking to develop access and benefit sharing agreements, policies, or protocols in light of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Nagoya Protocol.

This paper offers perspectives, principles, and community member narratives from a Canadian indigenous community, Pikangikum First Nation. These perspectives describe how this community envisions potential research, development and commercialization of NTFPs through joint and mutually beneficial partnerships.

The purpose of this research is to examine Gitga'at First Nation approaches and objectives concerning the use of local biological and cultural resources through the lens of a locally‐driven proposal to establish an eco‐cultural tourism enterprise.

This project was developed in collaboration with the Gitga'at First Nation and employed a qualitative case study approach. Primary data gathering techniques were active participation, semi‐structured interviews, focus group discussions and work with key informants.

Participant responses highlight the interconnectivity and importance of social, ecological and cultural integrity in local economic development. Three major principles for resource use were widely expressed: control and management by Gitga'at; equitable distribution of any benefits; and the imperative of environmental and cultural sustainability.

Gitga'at band members living within the Gitga'at traditional territory played a central part in this research. Future work could include non‐resident band members. Furthermore, if the Gitga'at decide to move forward with this proposal, further research could examine how the resource use principles discussed here may be applied.

This research provided a forum to explicitly identify research participants' hopes and concerns surrounding eco‐cultural tourism and the possible outcomes of this potential project.

This research may be beneficial to other communities interested in eco‐cultural tourism development or other development activities dependent on local resources use.

Although essential to creating economic opportunities that reflect local goals and interests, socio‐cultural dimensions are often overlooked in local economic development. This research explicitly sought to unpack these domains.

The goal of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework to understand the processes by which rural communities are using commons‐based social enterprises to engage global actors and forge local places.

The paper uses a four‐step conceptualization of commons‐based social enterprises within a complex world: deal with communities as complex systems embedded in larger complex systems, understand cross‐scale linkages between communities and other levels of organization, identify drivers of change, and build adaptive capacity to increase the resilience of communities in the face of globalization. The paper draws upon an international set of cases undertaken by the Centre for Community‐based Resource Management to illustrate each step.

Social enterprises are one means by which rural communities are negotiating with global actors through recent processes of globalization. The social enterprise provides a mechanism for rural people to secure tenure for common‐pool resources and allows them to make direct decisions regarding their management.

To further develop the understanding of commons‐based social enterprises will require further integration of theory regarding commons and social enterprises.

States and development agencies lack enabling policies for commons‐based social enterprises that support the multiple goal strategies of rural communities for natural resources.

Commons and social enterprise literature have tended to exist in separate domains and this paper makes a first step toward their integration.

Research projects involving traditional knowledge are finding new ways of dealing with intellectual property rights and commercialisation. Influenced by calls for fair and equitable protocols involving access and benefit sharing regimes, researchers are developing new standards of practice. Here this paper aims to explore the process by which the CIHR Team in Aboriginal Antidiabetic Medicine (TAAM) came to address these issues within the scope of participatory action research.

A case study method is applied in order to highlight key events and topics. The legally binding research agreement developed for this project is used to illustrate examples of how the needs of First Nations stakeholders and of researchers are met.

The paper finds that strong research partnerships are characterized by accountability, adaptability, transparency, good and frequent communication and ultimately, trust. Researchers should be prepared to take a more “human” approach in their studies as the establishment of personal relationships are as important as the research itself. Proposals should include both monetary and intangible outcomes where possible, which reflect aboriginal culture and decision.

This paper can help others to understand the needs of aboriginal peoples with regard to research. It also provides links to protocols and the legal research agreement used by TAAM that can serve as an adaptable template for future work.

Publicising the research agreement and experiences herein is meant to contribute to a body of knowledge that will one day lead to new research norms when dealing with aboriginal peoples and traditional knowledge.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a conceptual overview of linkages between buen vivir and social enterprise as emerging from a review of the literature regarding indigenous development approaches in Latin America. As reported in the literature such approaches aim to reduce poverty and affirm indigenous cultural identities through the sustainable use of natural resources.

The conceptual arguments build on a review of literature regarding social enterprise, mainly in its European conception, on social and solidarity economy according to several Latin American scholars, and on streams of literature related to indigenous development and indigenous entrepreneurship.

Against the failure of externally‐driven developmental policies, social enterprise can be considered as a useful vehicle for indigenous peoples to establish direct control and management of natural resources and territories that constitute an important step towards their self‐determination and self‐managed development.

An empirical validation of the presented argument is lacking in this paper and further empirical work is needed.

The paper is an attempt to provide a general conceptualization of social enterprise as a meaningful tool for the development of indigenous peoples in Latin America, bringing together different concepts borrowed from theories on social enterprise, social and solidarity economy and indigenous development.

This case study aims to explore the affect of Canadian Inuit culture on recognizing opportunities from caribou when participating in the bio economy and decision making and benefit sharing considerations for Inuit partnerships arsing from the northern bioeconomy.

This Inuit case study in northern Canada combined Elder interviews, a focus group and product elicitation techniques. First, the Inuit identified traditional uses of caribou for health care. Second, they explored its potential uses for biomedicines, nutraceuticals and functional foods. Third, they discussed partnerships for development and benefits that should result.

Inuit had the right to develop and sell caribou products. Decisions about products and processes should be up to the community. Ensuring food security was critical. They preferred partnering with Inuit and northern businesses and government. University and business partnerships needed to provide ongoing monetary and non‐monetary benefits such as employment, new skills and knowledge, and networks.

Conclusions based on one case study need to be confirmed by surveying other Inuit communities. Future research should also include Inuit youth.

This research provides an increased understanding of the commons, the use of traditional resources, food security and the interaction of Indigenous culture on opportunity recognition for policy makers, businesses, indigenous communities, and university researchers.

This research paper integrates commons, indigenous entrepreneurship, opportunity recognition and bioeconomy. Furthermore, it provides the Inuit with a voice which they feel has been lacking in the business literature.

In light of the shortcomings of the current world order for indigenous peoples and the environment, there is a need to make “another world possible” by promoting new ways of thinking and articulating indigenous economies. This paper aims to address this issue.

This paper examines Māori enterprises involved in geothermal energy production as existing expressions of this other “possible world”.

The paper finds that Māori enterprises involved in geothermal energy production are increasing in number and are demonstrating complex ways of conducting business. In seeking a clearer picture of these enterprises, it was found that analysing how Māori values were “added in” to these businesses was not enough. Instead it was found that examining how these enterprises could be charted with ethical coordinates allows a more complete account of what is taking place.

This paper is of value for scholars analysing the value‐based aspects of economies, particularly indigenous business enterprises. Charting ethical coordinates allows the analysis of indigenous enterprises to move away from thinking about them in binary terms, as either Indigenous or non‐indigenous. Having a way of thinking about and articulating the complexity of indigenous enterprises enables a richer conversation about their attributes.