But Yuriy Pivovarov (director of the Association "Innovation Development of
Ukraine") considers the digital economy as any activity related to information
technologies [16]. He stresses the importance of sharing the terms: digital economy
and IT. It is not about the development of IT companies, but about the consumption of
services or goods they provide - online commerce, e-governance, etc. - using digital
information technologies [16].
Olexiy Shcherbatenko (business development partner at SmartTender.biz) argues
that the digital economy is the economy of virtual worlds [16]. Its main space is the
Internet. But not only the Internet determines its directions of development - it's about
technology as a whole. That is what distinguishes the digital economy from the
traditional one - it is oriented towards the consumer. So, it is often possible to hear
instead of "digital economy" - economics on demand [16].
From the above, we can give a preliminary definition of the digital economy. The
digital economy is a system of institutional categories (concepts) in the economy, based
on advanced scientific achievements and progressive technologies, primarily in digital
information and communication technologies, whose functioning is aimed at
increasing the efficiency of social production, maintaining a steady growth in the
economy with the goal of improving welfare and quality life of citizens of the country.
The result of the digital economy is a specific product (or service) in getting citizens
of this service in socio-economic activities: scientific and educational, in the field of
health and the organization of medical care, ensuring effective business management
and its control, legal services, advertising.
Thus, the digital economy is not a separate branch, but, in fact, it is the basis for
creating qualitatively new business models, trade, logistics, production, changing the
format of education, health care, public administration, communication between
people, and therefore, asks a new paradigm for the development of the state, economy
and society as a whole.
Presentation of the main research material with full justification of the
received scientific results. In many countries, the problem of forming a digital society
is given considerable attention, as evidenced by the adopted strategies / programs for
the development of the digital economy, including [4, 5, 17]: 2000 - Denmark, 2005 -
Singapore, 2008 - Australia, Hong Kong, Great Britain, New Zealand, 2009 - in
general, the European Union, 2010 - Canada, 2012 - Malaysia, 2013 - South Korea,
2015 - India, Kazakhstan.
To assess the readiness of countries to the digital version of the international
economy uses the Networked Readiness Index, which was presented by the World
Economic Forum's "Global Information Technology" for 2016. The Networked
Readiness Index is a complex indicator that characterizes the level of information and
communication technology (ICT) development in countries around the world. Over the
past five years, Ukraine has been able to show a positive dynamics of positions in the
Readiness Indicator (64 in the world according to the 2016 estimate, 75 in 2012) [18].
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