The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report for the G20 “A roadmap toward a common framework for measuring the digital economy” has been published, which describes approaches to measuring the digital economy, as well as its definition, which is a consensus at the G20 level.
The authors of the report define the digital economy as an economic activity based on or significantly improved by the use of digital resources such as digital technologies, digital infrastructure, digital services and data.
The paper presents two approaches to measuring the digital economy. Measurements of the first type are related to the characteristics of business processes (the criterion here is the extent to which these processes are characteristic of the digital economy). The second group is based on identifying key trends that determine the existence of the digital transformation process and the degree of its impact on the economy. According to the authors of the OECD report, it is necessary to build a multi-level structure for measuring the digital economy, reflecting various factors that affect its development.
The OECD report reveals the essence of the best practices for measuring the digital economy, including the approach of the World Bank Group and the Institute of the Information Society for assessing the level of development of the digital economy in a particular country, region or industry (Digital Economy Country Assessment, DECA). This technique was developed in 2017 and was used to assess the level of development of the digital economy in the Russian Federation, certain regions of Russia, and then in other countries. The methodology is based on research results obtained by international organizations (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, International Telecommunication Union, World Economic Forum, etc.), leading world consulting firms, industry representatives, and the World Bank. The authors of the DECA methodology and assessment of the level of development of the digital economy in Russia include Yuri Hohlov, chairman of the IIS Board of directors, Tatiana Ershova, IIS general director and Sergei Shaposhnik, Head of IIS Directorate for monitoring the information society development.
The report also characterizes the processes of digital transformation of the economies of the G20 countries, examines the key trends and threats that exist in the digital economy today, as well as its indicators. The study presents modern digital services and platforms, touches on the problem of measuring, classifying and evaluating data, and constructs a roadmap for developing a general approach to measuring the digital economy. The work also reflects the transformations of professions and competencies in the digital economy.