Our General Manager Rıza Mehmet Korkmaz said, "Ünsped is Realizing Digital Transformation in Foreign Trade Transactions with its R&D Center." His interview titled "How Bir Economy Newspaper" was published on 16.07.2024.

Research and development (R&D) expenditures in the world are increasing. Reaching US$ 555 billion in 1996 and approximately US$ 1 trillion in 2005, global research & development (R&D) expenditures will exceed US$ 2.47 trillion in 2022. Developing countries are particularly endeavoring to increase competitiveness by investing in R&D expenditures. In Turkey, many companies are establishing R&D centers with the support of the Ministry of Industry and Technology. According to the Ministry's data, as of 2024, there are 1312 R&D centers across Turkey. One of these centers belongs to Ünsped Gümrük Müşavirliği ve Lojistik Hizmetler A.Ş. (UGM), one of the leading companies in the customs brokerage and logistics sector. 

We asked Mr. Rıza Mehmet KORKMAZ, the Company's Chief Executive Officer and General Manager, about Ünsped's R&D activities. We asked Mr. Rıza Mehmet KORKMAZ, Chief Executive Officer and General Manager of the Company.

When and with what thoughts did you establish your UGM R&D Center? What are your main priorities and goals in your work?

As UGM, we blazed a trail in our sector by establishing the first on-site R&D center in our Istanbul head office in 2019. Our pioneering spirit led us to set ambitious goals for our R&D Center, including cost reduction, time saving, risk and error minimization, efficiency increase, new business model creation, and the development of groundbreaking applications. Our aim is to make foreign trade faster, safer, easier, and more cost-effective for our traders by digitalizing transactions with cutting-edge technology.

Our main goals were to develop innovative solutions by following the latest developments in technology; to encourage scientific and technological research by supporting R&D activities; to increase academic education and information sharing through university-industry collaborations; to understand customer needs and expectations and to produce solutions accordingly, to develop new products; and most importantly, to ensure sustainability through innovative projects.

With our R&D Center, we also aimed to train a team of experts who are experts in IT and competent in customs and foreign trade in our sector. In this sense, our training programs have filled an essential gap in the industry. 

Our activities in our R&D center have enabled us to continuously improve and develop our sector's applications and technological infrastructure. Thus, we have become more robust in providing our foreign trade partners with the best service. Our high customer satisfaction studies, reaching 97%, obtained from the technology-oriented projects we developed in our R&D center, have encouraged us even more.

Which areas have been your priority in your R&D Center? Which technologies do you focus on?

We have established the highest Business Continuity (ISO 22301) and Information Security (ISO 27001) standards, established a Disaster Recovery Center in our Ankara Regional Directorate, and secured our operations first.

According to the Disruptive/Transformative Technologies Report prepared jointly by the WTO and updated in 2022, the main technologies that will transform customs and foreign trade operations in the coming period are blockchain, the Internet of Things (IoT), big data/data analysis, artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning, biometrics, drones, virtual/augmented and mixed reality, and 3D printers.

Based on these findings and our customers' demands, we have focused our efforts on blockchain, artificial intelligence, and data analysis.

How many employees work in your R&D center? How do your employees approach R&D projects? 

In our R&D Center, 25 experienced experts, researchers, and technicians carry out projects that generate know-how in customs brokerage and foreign trade activities. At this point, we also receive support from our consultant professors through university collaborations. In the context of University-Industry cooperation, we have conducted project-based studies with ITU and Çukurova Universities Technology Transfer Offices. We increase the competencies of our employees through master's and doctoral programs. 

We formed many project teams with a participatory model to develop a project culture among our employees. These teams have produced many projects. In addition, we established an "I have an idea" platform to encourage idea generation and reward our employees who proposed creative ideas. Thus, our employees embraced R&D projects, and our company's R&D and project-based work culture developed further.

Which projects have you completed in your R&D Center so far? 

 Our R&D center has successfully completed a total of 7 diverse projects. These include the development of an interactive question answering (chatpot) system, the first phase of a blockchain project, and the implementation of a customs operations decision support system in the textile sector. We have also made significant strides in the classification of documents used in customs and foreign trade, the development of a GTIP decision support system based on machine learning, and the creation of a smart foreign trade system based on big data. 

With these projects, we aimed to minimize errors and accelerate transaction processes using artificial intelligence. One of the most vital issues for the customs and foreign trade sector is the fast and error-free determination of customs tariff statistical positions (GTIP), which are more than 16,000 for our country. At this point, we get the most effective results using artificial intelligence. Our goal is to extend our work to all product groups. Our work on this subject is also exemplary in the world.

Our work on blockchain applications in foreign trade has been particularly enlightening. It has become clear that customs and foreign trade transactions are an ideal fit for such applications. With the Ministry of Trade leading the way, we have been able to implement blockchain in these transactions, thereby reducing waiting costs. This underscores the importance of digitalization in increasing the speed, reliability, and efficiency of our processes.

What other projects do you have for the future?

With our ongoing projects, we aim to facilitate foreign trade and especially to support our exporters more. We are developing smart applications that will guide our companies that will export for the first time or are inexperienced in exporting all over the world. These applications, along with our other initiatives, are a testament to our commitment to our exporters. We aim to prevent duplication, simplify and shorten declaration processes, and enable the use of documents used in foreign trade through mutual data exchange in importing and exporting countries. With these applications, we will provide our companies with easier and faster access to world markets and reduce waiting costs abroad.

Where may customs procedures evolve shortly? 

While the world is digitalizing, and the new reality created by artificial intelligence is mainly being discussed, we anticipate that customs procedures will be one of the areas most affected by this process. Shortly, technological developments such as "self-declaring goods," "smart containers," "GTIP detection and declaration issuance with artificial intelligence," and many more will become our daily routine. 

Our on-site R&D center continues to develop many projects to pioneer the transformation in our industry. At this point, we want to benefit from our young entrepreneurs in producing know-how by cooperating with technoparks. For this purpose, we signed a memorandum of understanding with Istanbul Technopark. 

There are also global opportunities in logistics and customs clearance services in digital transformation. Our country has a serious potential to export services to the world with its qualified workforce and technology-oriented approach in this field. The Ministry of Trade should remember the customs clearance sector, which employs approximately 50,000 people, in its service exports and Eximbank support. We expect the perspective on this issue to change, and the sector's development will pave the way.