The Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ has published the full version of the survey “Internet development trends in an emerging digital economy” that the CC and the Higher School of Economics (HSE) have been working on for two years. The research provides an objective picture of the situation in the internet economy as well as realistic forecasts for the development of the Russian segment of the internet for the next few years.
“This year, we have altered the title of our survey, but not for the sake of using every chance to mention “digital economy.” The research vector has actually slightly changed; instead of studying the internet as a separate industry, we are looking at it as part of the other sectors of an economy relying on the internet as the basis for further development,” Deputy Director of the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ Andrey Romanov said.
The survey is based on statistics received from official sources, such as the Federal Registration Service, the Federal Taxation Service, the Ministry of Economic Development and other state agencies. The first study, published in 2017 and sent to all major specialized agencies, both federal and regional, has actually become a reference tool for officials on many aspects of how the internet works and its correlation with other industries. It is important that the study covers all aspects of the modern internet in Russia and abroad and helps identify individual trends in various areas, from internet penetration to the staffing situation in the IT industry.
The researchers have collected a huge amount of data relating to various aspects of the development as well as functioning of the internet; these data and their analysis are available to all users of the Runet. Much attention is paid to the work of futuristic forecasts. Deriving from the collected and analyzed data, we can project which technologies will become the main drivers of the digital economy’s development in the coming years. In this regard, according to the researchers, Big Data, artificial intelligence, blockchain and other technologies are the most promising.
By 2023, the market for Big Data analysis technologies will top $77 billion, and by 2025, the global market for Big Data is forecast to reach an impressive figure of $123 billion. In 2025, more than 85% of customer interaction will be carried out by AI systems.
However, one should not worry about losing jobs – by 2020, 2.3 million additional jobs will have been created with the help of AI. The size of the blockchain market will be $16 billion by 2024, and in general, thanks to blockchain, the global economy will grow by $176 billion by 2025. These and other interesting figures and facts can be found in the full text of the survey published on the CC website.
“Last year, the survey “Internet development trends in an emerging digital economy” aroused keen interest from internet experts, officials, as well as the general public. I think this year, their interest will be even greater, because due to the data collected over two years, we can evaluate not only the results, but also the main development trends. The research is to continue into 2019, and the results will be made publicly available,” Director of the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ Andrey Vorobyev said.
