Accelerating Digitalization during the Pandemic: Global and Russian Cases

Abstract

The externally induced intensification of the use of information and communication technologies in 2020 coincided with the ongoing digitalization of the world economy over the past decade. While digitalization is not a new phenomenon, the issues surrounding it are constantly changing. Before the pandemic, the discussion around digitalization mainly focused on the concepts of the fourth industrial revolution, Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things (IoT). The pandemic brought digitalization to companies and industries that had previously been relatively backward in this respect. During the pandemic, the shift of employees to remote work using ICT technology reached an unprecedented scale and stimulated a change in consumer behavior, and the duration of the pandemic triggered a long-term process of adoption of new types of ICT goods and services.The ICT corporations were able to significantly increase their user base and use the accumulated innovation potential to bring new products and services to market. This paper examines the implications of the pandemic for the digital infrastructure and the digital economy. The pandemic has contributed to the emergence of hybrid business models that combine the features of offline and online services. The strengthening of innovative competition in the ICT sector can lead to further consolidation of the industry, which is already being noted in the semiconductor industry and the segment of ICT services. Separately, the paper examines the Russian innovation policy in the digital sphere. Also, given the inevitable growth of innovation and trade competition in the digital sphere in Russia since 2017, new directions of state support for digital companies, products and services have been created. It is shown that the main focus of innovation policy in this area in Russia remains the public services segment. At the same time, the relevant national programs face the problem of goal-setting.