General Trends in the Development of the Information and Communication Technology

Article has an overview and analytical nature and is devoted to the study of the main trends in the information and communication services market on the basis of statistical data for 2010–2017. The relationship between the development of the information and communication technologies (ICT) sector and the efficiency of social production is considered. The results of a large-scale survey of the Economic Intelligence Unit company using a macroeconomic model based on statistics for 1995–2002 are presented and interpreted for 60 countries. It is shown that R. Solow's paradox can be solved on the basis of the revealed nonlinear dependences between the development of ICT and such macroeconomic indicators as GDP per person and labor productivity, which have a significant inertial log. Conclusions have been drawn on the need to develop an infrastructure for consuming ICT services in order to obtain the expected macro effects from its development. It was suggested that there might be a widening gap between the leading countries and countries that are lagging behind in the level of ICT development. The place of Russia in the world process of development of ITtechnologies is determined by comparing the network readiness index and the macroeconomic indicator of the share of the ICT sector in GDP by different countries. The problems hindering the development of the Russian ICT sector have been identified and a conclusion has been drawn on the need to concentrate efforts on innovative development projectstechnologies that have a wide range of uses, high efficiency and a relatively small recoil log. In the article, the blockchain technology is considered as an example and the potential of its application in the financial, investment and entrepreneurial activities of the Russian economy is analyzed.