Pilot Project to Advance Export Support Through Open Innovation
The Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) is launching a pilot project to advance export support through open innovation, collaborating with nine startups that possess digital solutions such as artificial intelligence (AI).
KOTRA announced that, to carry out this initiative, it convened the Digital Innovation Committee and held a kick-off briefing on July 2. KOTRA will implement a total of eight projects this year through its "Digital Transformation (DX) Innovation Lab," which is dedicated to driving business and operational innovation. The agency has restructured its existing agile organization, which was previously centered on internal staff, into the DX Innovation Lab?an open platform that enables collaboration with external partners. Through this, KOTRA aims to actively incorporate the technology and creativity of startups.
KOTRA has been actively promoting "digital trade expansion" by integrating digital marketing into its existing export support programs and establishing digital platforms tailored to each stage of the export process to provide customized services. As a result, KOTRA achieved digital export support performance totaling $235 million (approximately 320 billion KRW) last year.
Going forward, as part of "advancing export support using AI," KOTRA plans to maximize efficiency and automation by introducing AI technology throughout the entire export process, including: ▲preparation, ▲contract signing, ▲contract execution, and ▲post-management. For example, in the preparation stage, AI will independently analyze markets and recommend alternative export destinations, while in the post-management stage, a generative AI-based chatbot will respond to companies' inquiries 24 hours a day.
Kang Kyungseong, President of KOTRA, stated, "With the remarkable advancement of AI, we must shift from an era where companies seek out export opportunities to an era where AI finds and facilitates exports for them." He added, "Collaboration with startups that possess innovative technology will serve as the starting point for realizing advanced export support using AI."
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