Norbert Kouwenhoven is working in IBM. In his current role Norbert Kouwenhoven is focused on the implementation of the TradeLens platform, specialized in the role of Customs Organisations and Authorities related to TradeLens. The other part of his focus is on Customs projects in the European Union.
IBM is involved in customs projects in Netherlands, Belgium, United Kingdom, Denmark, New Zealand, United States and more. UCC and MASP are important drivers of change for the European Union. Norbert is leading in the creation of a UCC compliant solution set which IBM uses, especially in the current implementations in NL, UK, DK and Belgium.
As member of the European Commission’s Digital Trade and Logistics Forum Norbert supports the development of a network of federated platforms.

Norbert is (co)author of a number of articles, amongst which the whitepaper ´Balancing and Optimizing trade facilitation and border integrity`on the topic of borders and security, ´Smarter Planet for Customs (2012)´, ´Beyond the Single Window´ (2013), ´Cybersecurity in Ports´ (2014&2016), ‘Cognitive in Customs’ (WCO magazine, febr 2017), ‘TradeLens uses blockchain to help Customs authorities facilitate trade and increase compliance’ (WCO magazine, febr 2018), on interoperable platforms: ‘Whose ship is this, where is its cargo headed, which waterway best to take?’ (febr 2019), and a blog: ‘Envisioning a world of paperless customs and declaration-free border crossings’, Information Sharing Communities for Digitally Enabled Supply Chain Visibility (2020), Digital twins for the maritime sector (Smart Maritime Network, 2020).