The Blue Economy Ecosystem Digital Platform: Information Aggregation as Value Addition to the Technical University of Mombasa

Mathew Egessa, Cosmas Munga and Ngetich Cheruiyot

Abstract

In the development of Kenya Vision 2030 Third Medium Term Plan (MTP III) 2018-2022, the Blue Economy (BE) sector was recognised as one of the emerging economic fronts that are expected to significantly contribute to Kenya’s economic growth. Subsequently, there were calls to develop and manage a BE database. Despite these calls, there is currently no comprehensive database containing BE related data for Kenya, in an accessible manner to the public. As a response to these calls, our research team sought to design and develop a digital platform for aggregating information on the BE ecosystem. Design Science methodology was used. A single-case design and agile development were used as the domain specific method to realise the platform. As part of an ongoing research, this article reports on the process of the design and development of the platform. It details the successes, challenges and learnings along the development journey.