Who We Are

TALAP is founded on the belief that development is not just economic growth. It is quality of life, inclusiveness, fairness, and sustainability. It is a vision codified in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

This means:

• We look not just at GDP, but at how the economy changes people’s lives
• We analyze not isolated problems, but the links between them (how taxes affect employment, how technology changes education, how climate affects agriculture)
• We are guided by international standards and best practices because development is a global challenge
• We believe that development should be inclusive, and knowledge open.

The SDGs are not just a list of goals. They are the language spoken by governments, companies, and civil society. They broaden our horizons.

Over the past few years, the world has changed. Achieving the SDGs amid geopolitical shifts, the technological revolution, climate risks, and growing uncertainty is far more difficult than it seemed.

Therefore, we evolved.

TALAP is a research center that helps people and organizations navigate a changing economy on the path to sustainable development.

We analyze what is happening now: economic trends, structural challenges, inequality, demographics, and how all this is linked to the SDGs. We track how technologies are reshaping this, changing everything from skills in the labor market to business models. And we build scenarios: if we choose A, then there will be X; if we choose B, then there will be Y.

This is not a prophecy. It is a tool for decision-making under uncertainty. For people and organizations that want to understand, not to guess, and who believe that development is possible if it is approached consciously.

Honest diagnosis. We face the truth — even when the results are uncomfortable. We do not embellish, we do not conceal.

Data and logic. Our conclusions are based on numbers, empirical evidence, and international experience. Not on assumptions or ideology.

Openness. We publish research, provide training, and create tools that people can use on their own. We believe that knowledge should be accessible.

Constructiveness. We are independent, but that does not mean we simply criticize. We show what the challenge is, its consequences, possible solutions, and what the outcomes will be.

From analysis to action. Research is not the end. It is the beginning. We help people and organizations apply the findings. We do this through consulting, through work with civil society, and through collaboration with companies and international organizations.

Different challenges require different approaches. We work in three areas, each of which answers its own question.

Economy and Development

Sustainable development starts with the economy. Kazakhstan’s economy is not just oil and non-oil sectors. It is a set of structural challenges. How do we diversify the economy? How do we create jobs that pay decent wages? How do we prepare for demographic shifts? How do we make small and medium-sized businesses competitive? How do we allocate resources more efficiently so that they work for development, rather than redistribution?

We examine these questions through data: what is happening, why, what lessons can be drawn from other countries, and what scenarios are possible. The result is not recommendations on “how things should be done,” but an understanding that if we move in direction X, the economy will develop in one way; if in direction Y, then in another.

We analyze tax policy, employment structure, the investment climate, the efficiency of public spending, and sectoral development — from agriculture to the digital economy. All of these are tools for achieving the SDGs.

Technology and Society

But the economy does not develop in a vacuum. Technology is not just a tool, but the main driver of change. It changes everything: from which professions are needed to how the state can deliver services more efficiently and how we can live more sustainably.

The question is not whether this is “good or bad.” The question is how Kazakhstan will cope with it. Which professions will disappear, which will emerge, how to retrain people, and how the state and business should adapt their models. How to use technology to achieve the SDGs, rather than in spite of them.

We analyze which technologies are changing which sectors, what the implications are for employment and skills, how to prepare for this, and what risks and opportunities there are.

Strategic Foresight

If we know what is happening (the economy) and how it is changing (technology), one question remains: how do we prepare for it?

Kazakhstan’s future is not predetermined. But it depends on the decisions we make today. We build scenarios and answer the questions: what will happen if we choose a specific path? What are the risks? What are the opportunities? How do these choices affect progress toward the SDGs?

Strategic foresight is a decision-making tool in conditions of uncertainty. It helps the state, companies, and people prepare for change, avoid falling into traps, and stay on the path of development.

We work with long-term scenarios for national strategies, forecast sectoral development, and analyze risks and critical junctures.

Kazakhstan has committed to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. But achieving these goals in a context where the global economy is changing rapidly, technologies are reshaping labor markets, the climate is unstable, and geopolitics is unpredictable requires not just good intentions, but an honest diagnosis, solid data, and informed choices.

In these conditions, we cannot rely on assumptions and inertia. We cannot hope that if we simply keep doing things as before, everything will be fine. We need to understand where we are now, where we can go, and what choices we need to make.

That is exactly what we do.

TALAP was established in 2016 as an independent non-profit public foundation. We looked at everything through the lens of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

The SDGs gave us scale (not narrowly focused on Kazakhstan, but on global development) and a common language (international standards understood by companies and governments around the world).

But over the years, the world has changed: geopolitical shifts, the technological revolution, and climate risks have created growing uncertainty. Simply analyzing the SDGs was no longer enough; we needed to help people navigate this uncertainty.

Therefore, we evolved.

We broadened our focus: we began working on foresight and strategic planning, on analyzing the impact of technologies, and on introducing new analytical methods. We evolved from a think tank into a "do tank"; from simply analyzing problems to helping solve them.

The SDGs remain in our DNA. They continue to define our scale, our breadth, and our conviction that development is possible.

Today, TALAP is a team of economists, analysts, experts in policy and technology who believe that in an uncertain environment, what is needed is honest diagnosis, sound analysis, and constructive dialogue, and sustainable development is possible if we pursue it deliberately.

We are independent researchers and practitioners with experience in public administration, international organizations, business, and civil society. We know Kazakhstan’s reality from within. We know how things work in other countries. We know how research turns into action.

We remain independent and engage constructively with everyone: with the state, with business, with civil society, and with international organizations.

We believe that the best way to prepare for uncertainty is together, and to discuss what comes next together as well.