It is claimed that participation and innovation in emerging economies will set the competitiveness agenda for MNCs in the future. There is currently a need for more knowledge on the peculiarities of innovating in these markets, including the even more profound need for interaction and relationship building between actors from different sectors in society. The aim of this paper is, therefore, to reach a better understanding of the impact of the interaction between various actors, both business and socio-political, for the innovative performance of MNCs in emerging markets. We apply a business network view of innovation including business relationships in general and relationships to civil society actors in particular, using the relational concepts of trust, knowledge and cultural compatibility to analyse the process at hand. A case study was conducted of the MNC-led project 'Amazon Connection', which enabled connectivity in the distant Amazonian region of Para, Brazil.