Publication was supported by Fundo Vale and IDB Lab and aims to strengthen the social and biological diversity economy 

A new report produced by Conexsus and the CERTI Foundation, with support from Fundo Vale and IDB Lab, offers guidelines for connecting community business ecosystems and innovation ecosystems. Titled “Innovation and Community Businesses in the Socio-Bioeconomy: How to Bring Together and Connect These Ecosystems,” the publication is based on a workshop called “Innovation and Community Businesses: How to Bring These Ecosystems Closer Together and Connect Them.” The report aims to guide future actions to strengthen the socio-bioeconomy, promoting collaboration between community businesses with social and environmental impacts and innovation agents. Although focused on the Amazon, the document may help guide collaboration in any biome. 

During the workshop that gave rise to the publication – held in the first half of 2024 with the participation of more than 50 people, including representatives of cooperatives, social and environmental impact associations, other organizations and innovation agents – the current distance between community business ecosystems and innovation ecosystems became clear, evidenced in aspects such as differences in context, language and practices. On the other hand, the participants agreed on the significant opportunities for collaboration between them. 

“We understand that various innovative solutions can flourish from this connection, but we still see few cases in the sector of strategic and long-term relationships between these players. What’s more, existing initiatives are not fully grounded in the reality of Amazonian communities and their enterprises,” said Pedro Frizo, Conexsus’ operations director. 

According to Márcia Soares, Fundo Vale’s Amazon and partnerships manager, who attended the workshop, providing spaces to encourage closer links is fundamental to advancing the agenda. “They are very different worlds and languages. The objectives are similar, but there is no natural interaction between community businesses and innovation-based entrepreneurship. So, the first step toward building strategic and collaborative initiatives is to hold meetings like this. One sector can share valuable solutions with the other,” she explained. 

Social and environmental impact business ecosystems 

In a context of climate emergency, strengthening social and biological diversity economies is gaining impetus, not only as a mitigation and adaptation strategy but also as a way of positioning Brazil as a leader in an economy based on the sustainable use of biodiversity, with a positive socioeconomic and environmental impact. To this end, it is essential to maintain dialogue with science and technology institutions, education centers, startups and other support organizations, as happened at the workshop that laid the foundations for the report. 

“Innovation can act as a vector of development for communities, promoting productivity gains, adding value to products, reducing costs and integrating new technologies. Building bridges between researchers and entrepreneurs in the Amazon and the ancestral knowledge of communities and native peoples is a crucial step in unlocking the economic potential of intact forests,” said Janice Maciel, green economy manager at the CERTI Foundation. 

Listening to these ecosystems, based on a methodology of co-creation with community businesses and innovation agents, was fundamental to building a set of guidelines that can aid the structured design and implementation of strategies, programs and initiatives that seek to work with the theme of innovation in the socio-bioeconomy in an inclusive, participatory, responsible and efficient way. 

Reconciling community business ecosystems and innovation ecosystems 

The report shows that to effectively achieve closer links between the two ecosystems, it is essential to: 

• broaden visions; 

• recognize the importance of community businesses’ knowledge; 

• provide opportunities for more equitable collaboration between actors; 

• align language and key concepts; 

• intentionally involve young people and women in projects. 

Accessible and transparent communication together with systemic financial resources are fundamental conditions for the success of collaborative innovation initiatives. 

One possible way of fostering closer links between these ecosystems is presented in detail in the publication. It includes the following steps: 

1. Awareness raising: Promote mutual understanding through exchanges, field visits, integration workshops and the engagement of youth and female leaders; 

2. Recognition of opportunities: Use appreciative inquiry, participatory mapping sessions and the search for mutual value; 

3. Prioritization of themes: Conduct ideation and validation sessions with prioritization matrices; 

4. Definition of information flows: Create spaces for interaction and exchange, collaboration agreements, communication rites and continuous feedback processes; 

5. Co-development of solutions: Use prototyping, pilot projects and experimentation laboratories; 

6. Fair sharing of results: Ensure the distribution of value, evaluation metrics and financial transparency; 

7. Learning lessons and scaling up: Systematically document, hold reflection sessions, form communities of practice and share experiences.