ABSTRACT
The digital economy presents new requirements to the national instrument-evaluation system for supporting management decisions on the development of the information and communication technology or (ICT) sector. Digital inequality reflects the technological, economic, social, educational disparity of economic entities in accessing, obtaining and using information on the basis of modern IT.This article examines the contradictions in the rating dimensions of the digital economy, clarifies the methodological aspects of digital inequality, defines the features of the construction and the effectiveness of using empirical indicators of spatial unevenness in the development of the ICT sector. The article provides the rationale and the methodology for constructing the aggregate indicator ICT Development Index RF, which allows to adjust the assessment of the implementation of the state programs of the Russian Federation on the development of the digital economy, providing inclusive management with other state programs of innovation and investment orientation. From 2014 to 2016, the North-West FD is the leader among the Russian regions in the development of the ICT sector – index 77.98 p.p. At the same time, the digital backlog for the regions of this region from the leading regions was more than 21 p.p. - the North Caucasian FD.The proposed modified ICT Development Index RF is distinguished by the simplicity and flexibility of the method of construction, the conjugation of the national and regional digital profile, the use of open monitoring data of the Russian information economy, and the possibility of further modification using correlation and regression analysis.
