Comparative Characteristics of Transformation of the Digital Economy in Georgia

The study reviews the dynamics of the digital economy's transformation process in Georgia, as well as its impediments throughout the pandemic and post-pandemic periods. According to a comparative analysis, the digital economy transition in Georgia is characterized by four major components and ten indicators, which include infrastructure building, the creation, usage, and global distribution of technology and digital services, and the growth of human resources and security. It is demonstrated that in contrast to other nations where digital business was founded on the implementation of internal company projects and then spread throughout the world, its emergence in Georgia was founded on the active engagement and intervention of the state. Its growth follows a “from top to bottom” pattern. The introduction of digital technologies in the public service sector has been rapid, especially in the prior pandemic period, which ensured providing of big data operations and large amounts of needed medical information and state services during the pandemic, while funding, lack of staff, outdated technologies, reliance on foreign innovations and digital business model shortages remained major problems for entrepreneurs. These issues have been exacerbated in the post-pandemic period when the lessons learned during the pandemic are being corrected by inertia.