Digital economy: essence, approaches, elements, transformation

In the scientific sense, the "Digital Economy" means different areas and types of activities and, thus, different criteria are embedded in this concept. Many approaches to the definition of "Digital Economy" combine a number of distinctive features: self-management of production processes; communication between machinery; close connection of production processes with the use of the latest in-formation and communication technology; the use of computer programs for the preparation and adoption of management decisions; apparent horizontal and vertical communications between various processes. Signs of the digital economy include: the role of social networks in formation of consumers' opinions about a product (service), the emergence of new technologies that allow the use of collective intelligence, the collaborative consumption of material goods, doing business without warehouses and stocks, based on demand, the use of new licenses for the right to intellectual property, etc. The approach to the digital economy as a set of new opportunities and prospects for the innovative development of various areas based on the active use of information technologies in order to increase the economic efficiency of activities and business capitalization was substantiated. The research methodology is based on the use of both qualitative (comparative, content analysis, analogue and generalization methods) and quantitative scientific methods (the method for determining the integral indicator). The official data of the National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus was the information base for the study.