CONNECT AI’s philosophy for the digital-trade platform it built is captured in the book “Trade in the Hyper-Connected World,” now featured in the trade-and-commerce outlet Tongsang News. The core idea is simple — “In the hyper-connected era, the breakthrough for exports lies in digital connection.”
Where it ran. The outlet that spotlighted this book is Tongsang News (Monthly Tongsang) — a trade-and-commerce outlet specializing in international trade, FTAs, global supply chains, and import-export policy. Its primary readers are trade-policy audiences, import-export companies, and industry practitioners — precisely the readers this book is aimed at. In short, a specialist outlet that export practitioners actually read gave it coverage — which carries real weight. (Author Songyi Yang has also been introduced as a featured-book author in Monthly Tongsang.)
This book was written by CONNECT AI’s own leadership. CONNECT AI co-founder Songyi Yang designs the structures that make exports actually happen; she is a featured-book author in the Ministry of Trade and Industry’s Monthly Tongsang and chair of the TBT AI & Cybersecurity Committee at the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards. Co-author Geonsik Choi is CONNECT AI’s technology-transfer specialist and an architect of IP-based export strategy. Published by 21st Century Books (216 pp).
Why ‘digital connection’ now
Amid the tariff surges from the United States in 2025, Korean trade is fighting an uphill battle. Korea is a country where exports account for more than 36% of GDP — and the more protectionist the era, the more exports matter. The article notes that exports led by large companies alone, in fields like semiconductors and automobiles, are not enough; technology and product exports by small and mid-sized enterprises must be activated alongside them. This book begins precisely from that concern.
How to ‘connect’ technology — CONNECT AI and T2M
Building on real cases of applying CONNECT AI in the field, the two authors put forward a model for connecting intellectual property — patents, designs, and trademarks — to the countries, industries, and demand-side companies where it can be applied: the T2M (Tech To Market) model. Korean tech firms, they note, often have strong technology yet fail to expand abroad because they never design “how they look” and “what earns them trust”.
Technology that is not connected does not exist.
Export relationships, not products
In the digital age, buyers evaluate and buy technology by searching the web — without ever attending a trade show. Because it is an era in which buyers search for and evaluate companies first, “how you look” matters as much as “what you make.” As the essence of trade shifts from logistics to “connection and design,” the article reports, the book’s directive is clear: “Export relationships, not products.”
Its execution rests on three pillars: technology, content, and trust design. Buyer behaviors such as time-on-page and sharing are analyzed in real time (CRM, automated messaging, and an AI chatbot), and trust content — company philosophy, product value, customer reviews, demo videos — is layered on so that everything works as a single system.
Digital trade, proven in numbers
The article also shares the real results captured in the book. One food OEM company emailed strategy-based proposals to 100 overseas buyers —
One cosmetics startup had struggled to close deals despite exhibiting at trade shows several times. Instead of product specs, it sent 300 buyers a proposal built around sensory-first messaging — “the aesthetics of the brand, the story of the ingredients, and real customer reviews” — and, after four sample requests, signed with a US distributor. The article closes with the book’s advice: “If you have good products and technology but still struggle to export, start by checking how your own company looks on the web.”
Trade in the Hyper-Connected World
By Songyi Yang · Geonsik Choi · 21st Century Books · 216 pp · KRW 17,000 · Published Oct 6, 2025
“Exporting is no longer about ‘sending’ — it is about ‘being seen.’”