TRACE goes to KICC: STRI Week Exhibition & Industry Showcase
Oyugi Mourice
5 min read
STRI Week — Science, Technology, Research & Innovation 4 Society Week — brought twenty-plus Kenyan universities and dozens of research projects under one roof at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC).
Hosted at the Kirinyaga University booth, this marked the very first time TRACE was demonstrated to stakeholders outside the academic department.
On the Floor: Testing Research Against Market Realities
From the moment the doors opened, visitors stopped at the booth to inquire about the project. Exporters, farmers, regulators, and curious attendees engaged with the live demo running on-site.
Key interactions on the floor revealed two distinct perspectives:
- Regulatory Aware: Industry players familiar with EUDR mandates wanted to understand how TRACE solves cost barriers and simplifies chain-of-custody tracking using lightweight ledger architectures like IOTA.
- New Adopters: Farmers and smaller cooperative representatives who were learning about Digital Product Passports (DPPs) for the first time and looking for low-overhead compliance tools.
By the end of the showcase, four exporter contacts were logged for direct follow-up, and key regulatory representatives requested full technical whitepaper copies.
What It Meant & What Comes Next
Beyond demonstrating software, the exhibition shifted TRACE from a research proposal into a validated system.
The immediate outcome includes targeted follow-ups across the export ecosystem:
- Field Pilots: Initiating pilot deployment with a regional tea cooperative.
- Regulatory Conversations: Direct consultations with KEPHIS (Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service) and the Coffee Directorate.
- Data Ownership Frameworks: Deepening technical discussions around record ownership when smallholder farmers input field data onto distributed ledgers.
The Engineering Behind TRACE
TRACE began as a final-year research project within the Department of Computing at Kirinyaga University (developed by Hawona Rodgers and Mourice Odhiambo, advised by Dr. Mwikya).