SOCIO-ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF THE DIGITAL ECONOMY DEVELOPMENT IN UKRAINE
Authors: Dmytro Nelipa  , Oleh Zubchyk  , Olha Zubchyk  , Denis Kireev  
Published: October 2020

The article deals with the basic concepts and tendencies of the digital economy. The current state of the digital economy and prospects for its development in Ukraine are analyzed. It is proposed to consider the digital economy development as an element of the social development strategy. The research methodology includes neo-institutional and systemic approaches, as well as analysis of statistics and data from social studies. The work concerns equally the theoretical and applied aspects of the topic. The paper is based on secondary data that has been collected from the official statistics, the Internet, science articles, interviews, papers, etc. The analysis results indicate a relatively unfavorable situation in Ukraine. The digital economy development entails dramatic changes in social relations. These processes include both risks (the market is being restructured in a new way, leading to challenges related to jobs, skills, security and privacy), as well as prospects (stimulating innovation, increasing governance efficiency, improving service delivery, inclusion and sustainable economic growth, the well-being of citizens, countries and society). The society and the state should be properly prepared for such changes. Therefore, the digital economy development in terms of public administration should be seen as an element of a social development strategy that requires proper scientific and expert substantiation. The concept of digital economy development in Ukraine envisages several measures aimed at addressing digital gap (from digital jobs to digital initiatives in the modern world, conducting digitalization of industry and business, defining basic digital services, preparing educational modernization measures, as well as forecasting digital development in Ukraine until 2020). On January 17, 2018, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved the Concept for the Development of the Digital Economy and Society of Ukraine for 2018-2020 and a plan of measures for its implementation. The document emphasizes that the path to the digital economy and digital society of Ukraine lies through the domestic product market, use and consumption of information and communication or digital technologies. The digital economy development is a set of mechanisms, motivation factors, and incentives for the implementation of digital technologies, and, therefore, a branched digital infrastructure for harnessing the state's capabilities, enhancing its competitiveness, and increasing the well-being of citizens. Currently, Ukrainian market of information products and services is at the stage of formation. The market of information products consists of technical and technological components (modern information equipment, powerful computers, advanced computer network and related information processing technologies, which enables to work on the global computer network Internet, search information, customers, goods, hypertext management technology, e-mail); regulatory and legal components (the legal basis for regulating the information market); organizational components (elements of state regulation of interaction between producers and distributors of information products and services). At the same time, the tasks of identifying specific practical legal, regulatory (organizational), economic and financial infrastructural mechanisms for the development of the «digital society» that would facilitate the rapid growth of the digital economy remain unresolved.