Innovative Development of the Digital Economy: A View of Sustainability

Purpose The purpose of this work is to compare promising scenarios for the innovative development of the digital economy from a sustainability perspective. Design/methodology/approach The top 10 countries in terms of robotization were selected as objects for the research. Robotization, the share of high-tech products and the use of Big Data and artificial intelligence are used as indicators of the innovative development of the digital economy. Using the regression analysis method, the dependence of each sustainability indicator on all indicators of innovative development is found. Then, forecasts are made for changes in the level of robotization, the share of high-tech products and the use of Big Data and artificial intelligence. Based on the predicted values of these indicators, the consequences of the innovative development of the digital economy for its sustainability are determined taking into account the obtained regression dependencies. Findings It is justified that robotization, smart manufacturing and the Internet of Things negatively affect sustainable development, worsening all its indicators. Therefore, both the isolated development of these technologies and the complex is impractical—inefficient from the standpoint of sustainability. Originality/value The most promising area of innovative development of the digital economy is Big Data and Artificial Intelligence, as they allow improving all indicators of sustainability (on average, their growth will be 4.19%). To implement this scenario, it is necessary to increase the level of use of Big Data and artificial intelligence by 21.61% in the period until 2024.