Informatization of the russian society: Evaluation and perspectives

Abstract

The purpose of the work is to determine the current state and perspectives of informatization of the Russian society in the aspect of increase of global competitiveness of Russia’s economy, by its informatization. The authors use the method of comparative analysis for comparing the level of informatization of the Russian society to the level of the OECD countries; and the methodology of the Theory of Games for compiling forecasting scenarios of further informatization of the Russian society for increasing competitiveness of modern Russia’s digital economy. The information and empirical basis of the research include the data of the World Economic Forum on the level and separate indicators of society’s informatization (through the prism of the index of network readiness) in Russia in 2012 and 2016, and in the countries of the OECD (on average) in 2016. It is concluded that modern Russia is peculiar for low level and slow rate of society’s informatization for achieving the level of the OECD countries in the mid-term (2020) with preservation of the current approach to state strategic management of this process. For ensuring the global competitiveness of Russia in the conditions of establishment of the global digital economy, it is recommended to change this approach, which envisages doubling of the volume of state target financing of the process of Russian society’s informatization, as well as reconsideration of the program (top-priority directions of informatization) in favor of emphasis on “weak spots”, which show the largest underrun from the OECD countries and slow rate of informatization. The key aspects are formation and development of digital entrepreneurship. For successful implementation of the offered new direction of informatization of the Russian society, the authors’ recommendations are offered. Following the selected optimization scenario in modern Russia will allow increasing the results by three times and achieving the level of the OECD countries by 2020, thus ensuring global competitiveness of Russia’s digital economy.