Client: Rozetka Education Agency

Role: Lead Researcher

Project type: Exploratory qualitative market research

Methods: In-depth interviews, hypothesis-led inquiry, cross-case synthesis

Focus: IT companies, higher education partnerships, regulation-driven market change

Outcome: Market segmentation, pain-point mapping, strategic directions for a B2B offer

Overview

In early 2026, a new regulatory framework changed the rules for IT companies in Russia: to retain state accreditation and tax benefits, companies now have to invest in educational partnerships with universities. This created an urgent and unfamiliar problem for the market. Many companies understood that they had to act, but were still unsure what exactly would count, how reporting would work, and which formats were both compliant and realistic.

I conducted an exploratory qualitative study for an education-focused agency to understand how IT companies were interpreting this new requirement, what kinds of support they needed, and where viable B2B service opportunities might emerge.

My role

Lead researcher, responsible for:

• framing the research task
• shaping working hypotheses
• finding, conducting, and synthesizing expert and company interviews
• identifying patterns across respondents
• segmenting companies by size and behavioral strategy
• translating research findings into strategic implications for a commercial offer

Research goal

The goal was to answer a practical question: what kind of offer could an external educational agency realistically bring to IT companies that were now required to work with universities under the new regulation?

This meant moving from raw interviews to a clearer view of: