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The purpose of this paper is to explore Indigenous Works’ efforts to facilitate Indigenous-led research that is responsive to the socio-economic needs, values and traditions of Indigenous communities.

This paper is grounded in an Indigenous research paradigm that is facilitated by Indigenous-led community-based participatory action research (PAR) methodology informed by the Two Row Wampum and Two-Eyed Seeing framework to bridge Indigenous science and knowledge systems with western ones.

The findings point to the need for greater focus on how Indigenous and western knowledge may be aligned within the methodological content domain while tackling a wide array of Indigenous research goals that involve non-Indigenous allies.

This paper addresses the need to develop insights and understandings into how to develop a safe, ethical space for Indigenous-led trans-disciplinary and multi-community collaborative research partnerships that contribute to community self-governance and well-being.

Early on it was recognized that this broad concept of entrepreneurship could be used to understand and improve the condition of particular disadvantaged populations; the so-called “under-developed” communities and regions (e.g. Danson, 1995). Only recently, however, has the notion been applied by scholars of entrepreneurship to a particular sector within this category, to the indigenous populations of the world.

This chapter explores economic development and entrepreneurship among Aboriginal¹ people in Canada as a particular instance of Indigenous entrepreneurship and development activity worldwide. In turn, Indigenous entrepreneurship, and the economic development that flows from it, can be considered a particular sub-set of ethnic entrepreneurship. What makes Indigenous entrepreneurship a particular and distinct instance of ethic entrepreneurship is the strong tie between the process and place – the historic lands of the particular Indigenous group involved. With Aboriginal populations there is also often a strong component of “nation-building,” or more correctly re-building. This is in contrast with instances of entrepreneurship associated with ethnic groups that have migrated to new places and are pursuing economic opportunities there in ways that distinguish them from the non-ethnic population.

The purpose of this study is to focus on the development experience in the global world of two small communities, Viimsi in Estonia and Magog in South Africa. These two communities were chosen as exemplars because the authors were familiar with both, and understood them to be illustrative of differing outcomes of interaction of small communities with the global economy offering the prospect of generalisation of findings to the framework and theory. Twenty years ago, both were poor, since then Viimsi has become wealthy, while Magopa remains poor. It is not believed that becoming the wealthiest community in Estonia was Viimsi’s per-determined destiny. What people of Viimsi did to make their community a success relative to the surrounding peer communities is a story of the visible as much as the invisible attributes.

These attributes are examined using a framework the authors’ originally developed to explore the participation of Indigenous communities in the global economy in pursuit of development as they defined it. A thorough investigation was done on the interactions among various community stakeholder groups in an attempt to describe the social fabric of these two communities, and this was used to explain why Viimsi was able to take advantage of globalisation, when Magopa was not.

While it will be hard, no doubt, to translate all the success attributes of Viimsi to a different location and time, some of the lessons that were uncovered from the study are universal in nature, making them potentially useable for other small communities trying to find their way in the global world.

Studying only two communities means that the generalisation of the findings is limited to theory. None can be made directly to the population of similar communities, except indirectly through exploration using the theory being developed to test its validity in other circumstances.

The findings from this paper will increase the understanding of the factors that contribute the a community’s success of lack of, in participating in the global economy.

This is an under-researched area within development literature.

The purpose of this paper is to present a qualitative study of economic development attempts to uncover the critical factors behind the recent economic rise of Viimsi, Estonia, to that of the wealthiest community in the country.

The roles of and interactions among various community stakeholder groups are explored through two sets of resident surveys. From these surveys, and a rich set of secondary material, a narrative emerges as to the factors behind Viimsi's success since 1991, when Estonia regained its independence from the former Soviet Union and its system of economic central planning.

It was found that among the key components explaining why Viimsi has become the wealthiest community in Estonia are its extraordinary openness in embracing the market system, combined with a consensus‐based plan among community stakeholders on balanced development, a dependable government, and a level of solidarity among fellow residents in facing change.

This paper describes one small community's experience in the global world, and offers observations on successful strategies for a community navigating in it.

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.

To learn how Inuvialuit people feel about the oil and gas activities on their land.

Interviews were administered to a stratified sample, on Inuvialuit land. Participants included: Inuvialuit elders; entrepreneurs; public servants; employees of the private sector; managers of oil companies; unemployed persons; housewives; the mayor of Inuvik; and the first aboriginal woman leader in Canada.

It was reported that oil and gas industry activities are having a positive impact on the regional economy, creating indirect as well as direct financial benefits for the Inuvialuit among others. However, some residents qualified their support saying that they are in favour of continued activity only if benefits filter to them as opposed to being enjoyed only by oil companies and migrant employees. Concern was also expressed for the environment and for the threat that development brings to wildlife upon which people rely on as a food source.

This study should have a longitudinal follow‐up.

While oil and gas exploration and the building of a pipeline may have economic advantages, this might have social, cultural and environment costs for the Inuvialuit.

The paper illustrates how oil and gas activities on Inuvialuit land will transform the lives of these people.