The literature on regional innovation systems (RIS) highlights that the localized social and institutional contexts of knowledge production matter for economic success. For less-advantaged regions, this raises a practical methodological challenge: how to construct platforms for regional innovation from the ground up? This paper discusses how a university working in a geographically and economically peripheral Australian region, the Cradle Coast region of Tasmania, has addressed this challenge, using insights from regional development platform method (RDPM). This work has demonstrated the difficulties of applying RDPM in a context where regional development actors lack strong structural, relational and cognitive ties. An approach called knowledge partnering has been used to overcome ‘connectivity deficits’ and bring regional actors together around issues of common concern. The local university has played a key role in this process. For policy-makers, this process illustrates how universities can work with regions to catalyse regional development outcomes.