A Regional Port's Role in its Local Innovation System: The regional development platform method

This paper reports on the initial phases of an application of an innovative method the Regional Development Platform Method (RDPM), in terms of the context of ports and their regions, as part of an on‐going research project. Burnie Port, a regional port in the North West of Tasmania Australia, is explored in terms of the links between a regional port’s role and its local innovation system. A regional port is critical to a region’s economic and social development and with the changing functions of a port as a consequence of the globalisation of supply chains there are implications for local regional development in terms of growth and development. As such the paper explains the importance of a regional innovation system (RIS) in creating regional competitive advantage. The conceptual framework of RDPM, designed for managing an RIS, is then reviewed and its initial phases are applied to Tasmania’s North West Region and Burnie Port. The background of Burnie Port and key industries in the region are presented from secondary data to illustrate the implementation of Phase 2 of the RDPM. The RDPM suggests that there may be a role of network leadership in a region, which perhaps a port could assume. Subsequent research is necessary to explore this role in the implementation of the final phases of the RDPM.