Research ADB 2026 digital priorities and produce positioning brief

[tomcounsell]

Plan: docs/plans/adb_2026_positioning_brief.md

Context: Yudame is pursuing visibility with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) as a digital-sector vendor. ADB funds digital projects across its member countries through a structured vendor ecosystem, and its Digital Sector Group publishes annual priorities. Threading future yuda.me copy into ADB's current-year themes (e.g., digital financial inclusion in the Pacific, women's digital access) makes each piece of content meaningfully more persuasive to ADB task managers reviewing vendor profiles. This issue produces the research brief that subsequent ADB-positioning issues will consume.

Problem

Current behavior: Site copy (src/index.html) positions Yudame generically as an "AI-forward" product partner — capabilities are "AI Integration," "Product Architecture," "Rapid Prototyping." There is no internal reference document capturing ADB's 2026 priority themes or vocabulary, so any downstream copy rework would be guessing at the right framing.

Desired outcome: A short internal positioning brief checked in at docs/research/adb-2026-positioning.md that captures ADB's 2026 digital strategy themes, their vocabulary (verbatim where possible), and specific angles for how Yudame's existing work (AI-forward development, IP transfer, Thailand HQ, Pacific telecom engagement) threads authentically into those themes. This brief becomes the shared source of truth for homepage reposition, case studies, security/compliance, and Pacific practice page issues.

Definitions

Term	Definition	Reference
ADB	Asian Development Bank — regional development bank headquartered in Manila, funds digital and infrastructure projects across member countries.	adb.org
DMC	Developing Member Country — ADB's designation for member countries eligible for ADB financing. Thailand is a DMC.	ADB countries
Digital Sector Group	ADB internal group that sets digital-project priorities and publishes annual strategy notes.	ADB Digital Sector
CMS	ADB's Consultant Management System — the vendor-registration portal ADB task managers draw from when staffing digital projects.	ADB CMS

Solution Sketch

Research task; no code changes. Deliverable is a single markdown brief in a new docs/research/ directory. Suggested structure:

• ADB 2026 digital priorities — 3–5 themes with source links (Digital Sector Group publications, Strategy 2030 supplements, recent project-announcement patterns)
• Vocabulary cheat-sheet — 10–20 terms and phrases used in ADB's own voice, with short notes on what each signals
• Yudame-to-ADB angle map — for each priority theme, 1–2 sentences on how Yudame's existing work threads into it honestly (not aspirationally)
• Source links — everything cited with a URL

Sources worth scanning:

• ADB Digital Sector Group publications
• ADB Pacific Department digital priorities
• ADB Strategy 2030 digital supplements
• Recent ADB-funded digital project announcements (last 12 months) — look for pattern repetition

Recon Summary

Confirmed:

• No existing docs/research/ directory — greenfield deliverable.
• Site is currently single-page with no ADB/DMC/Pacific/telecom copy (confirmed via grep of src/ and docs/plans/).

Revised: None — scope is as stated.

Pre-requisites: None.

Dropped: None.

Acceptance Criteria

• docs/research/adb-2026-positioning.md exists and is committed
• Captures at least 3 active ADB digital priority themes, each with a source URL
• Provides a vocabulary cheat-sheet of 10–20 terms with short notes on what each signals
• Provides at least 3 specific angle recommendations for Yudame's positioning threaded to ADB themes
• Every external claim or quote includes a source link

Downstream

This issue feeds into /do-plan, which will produce a plan document at docs/plans/{slug}.md. The resulting research brief becomes the vocabulary and theme source for subsequent issues: homepage reposition, case studies surface, security & compliance page, and Pacific telecom practice page.

[tomcounsell]

Related issues in this ADB-visibility workstream:

• Reposition homepage copy for ADB / DMC / Pacific audience #6 — Reposition homepage copy (consumes this brief)
• Add development-outcomes case studies surface #7 — Development-outcomes case studies surface
• Add security & compliance page for vendor due diligence #8 — Security & compliance page
• Add Pacific telecom practice page (placeholder for post-launch case study) #9 — Pacific telecom practice page

This issue (#5) is the upstream research input for #6–#9.