What We Do

Our work rests on three pillars — economics, technology, and strategic foresight. They are interconnected: economics shows what is happening; technology changes the rules of the game; foresight turns this into decisions about the future. We then help bring the findings to fruition — communicate them and make them stick.

When you need to understand what is happening in the economy and make a data-driven decision.

We study not only individual phenomena, but also the links between them: how tax policy affects employment, how demographic shifts change labor market demand, and how technologies reshape competitive advantages.

Examples:

• Money and financial stability. When the money supply grew sharply, we examined where the money came from: we analyzed the portfolios of second-tier banks, identified sources of capital inflows, and assessed the risks. This same line of work also includes an analysis of household indebtedness — which segments are most vulnerable (including microloans at 700–1000% annual interest) — with specific regulatory proposals.
• Quality of growth and the role of the public sector. We showed how the quasi-public sector affects the money supply, lending to the real sector, and inflation expectations, helping to shed light on the roots of economic imbalances.
• Forecasting in a changing external environment. When structural challenges are compounded by currency volatility and geopolitical shifts, we help forecast GDP growth rates, develop scenarios, and understand what affects confidence in the tenge and business decisions.

When technologies change the rules of the game and you need to decide how to implement them without making a mess.

Technologies, especially AI, are reshaping both the economy itself and the way analysis is done. We are adopting new methods in our own work, helping others apply them, and facilitating decision-making on technology adoption where the environment is contradictory and the right path is not obvious.

Examples:

• Technologies in our own research. We integrate modern tools, including AI, into our work. This allows us to analyze large datasets faster and more deeply. Having mastered them ourselves, we can confidently advise others.
• Adapting monitoring systems. We are redesigning monitoring systems so that technology helps them keep pace with rapidly changing conditions, and we help organizations do the same.
• Implementation decisions in a complex environment. Technology implementation is rarely straightforward, because different stakeholders have different interests, risks, and constraints. We organize discussions and help find solutions — both at the level of the country’s strategic tasks and for individual companies.

When the task is to prepare for possible futures, rather than guess which one it will be.

The world in which governance could rely on linear forecasts and stable scenarios is receding. Economic shocks, technological disruptions, sanctions-related constraints, and logistical disruptions are increasingly unfolding simultaneously and reinforcing one another. Uncertainty has become a permanent condition for decision-making.

That is why the world’s leading institutions (the EU, the OECD, the UN) have embedded strategic foresight into the management cycle. We are building this practice in Kazakhstan and promoting it at different levels.

• We are preparing a unique expert radar on the economy. It brings together fragmented assessments from many experts into a single map of early signals and shows how tensions in one sector spill over into others. This is not a one-off report, but a recurring tool: the radar is published quarterly and evolves from issue to issue.
• We bring foresight into the public domain. Around the radar, we convene open expert discussions so that work with early signals becomes part of Kazakhstan’s expert and public discourse, and the signals themselves are tested and refined in live dialogue.
• We work with client teams. We apply the same toolkit within organizations: we facilitate discussions within teams, help them identify hidden risks and decision points in their own agendas, and translate this into management decisions.

Among our foresight projects is a large-scale study of the future of education: we compiled more than 50 projects, prepared a policy paper, and structured the work in line with international standards.

These three areas answer the question of what we understand. Next is how we help turn that into results.

Once the research is complete, its findings need to reach those who make the decision.

We are embedded in the life of Kazakhstan and have a strong understanding of how audiences and the agenda are structured here. This allows us not only to conduct analysis, but also to carefully package its key messages and help convey them — clearly, persuasively, and to the right people. Substance, not noise, is always at the core.

How we work:

• We listen. Interviews and immersion: what the position is really about, what needs to be achieved, who the audience is, and what makes it hard to be heard.
• We analyze. We study the landscape: which arguments are persuasive, how the topic is already being discussed, who influences it, and where the points of misunderstanding are. This way, communication is based on data rather than assumptions.
• We help get the message across. We tailor key messages to specific audiences and formats and support the organization in working with the information environment.

This also includes facilitating dialogue between the parties: when many stakeholders need to sit down and reach agreement, we help structure the interaction, and the research serves as a shared analytical basis for discussion and decision-making.

So that the impact is sustained, rather than remaining confined to a single report.

Analysis and decisions are more effective in the long run when teams can use them independently. We build capacity through educational programs — from courses in strategic foresight to seminars on data analysis and scenario planning.

Examples:

• Course “Strategic Foresight”. For those who want to learn how to identify trends, build scenarios, and make decisions under uncertainty. Students work with real Kazakhstani case studies.
• MEL programs (monitoring, evaluation, learning). For organizations that want to establish how they measure the results of their work and learn from them.
• Lectures and master classes. At universities, in companies, and at conferences — on foresight, economic policy, and technology.

Everything we do brings together three things:

1. Honest diagnosis — we face the truth, even when the conclusions are uncomfortable.
2. Practical application — analysis is worthless if no one uses it. We help turn findings into action.
3. Openness and accessibility — we publish, train, and share tools. Good analysis is a public good.

Whatever the task — from economic analysis to scenario building and team training — the process is similar:

1. We listen and understand. What concerns you? What outcome do you need? Which decisions will this affect?
2. We conduct the analysis. On the basis of data, taking international experience into account.
3. We present the results. In the format you need — from detailed reports to short briefings and training programs.
4. We help put it into practice. We discuss how to use the results, how to communicate them to others, and how to make them stick.

The result is that you better understand your world and make decisions based on analysis rather than assumptions.