Executive Summary: Digital Economy Trends [2026]

 

 

How We Researched & Where this Data is from

  • Analyzed our 3100+ industry innovation reports to gather relevant insights and create the master technology-industry matrix.
  • Cross-checked this information with external sources for enhanced accuracy.
  • Used the StartUs Insights Discovery Platform, an AI and Big Data-powered innovation intelligence platform covering 9M+ emerging companies and over 20K+ technology trends worldwide, to:
    • Confirm our findings using the trend analysis tool,
    • Collect market statistics for each technology, and
    • Identify companies for the “Spotlighting an Innovator” sections.

The Rise & Expansion of the Digital Economy

 

 

Digital-driven activities account for about 15% of world GDP, while equating to roughly USD 16 trillion of a USD 108 trillion economy in 2024. Growth forecasts indicate this could rise to around 17% by 2028.

On the infrastructure side, the digital economy ranges from 4.5-15.5% of global GDP.

In the USA, while formally measured information and communications technologies (ICT) sectors constitute around 5% of GDP and ICT investment about 10% of GDP, up to 98% of the US economy is impacted by digitization.

 

 

Additionally, nearly 68% of the world’s population, about 5.5 billion people, were online in 2025. The spread of smartphones, broadband, and mobile technologies enabled universal connectivity, with mobile technologies alone contributing 5.8% of global GDP. It is expected to reach 8.4% by 2030.

 

Credit: GSMA

 

Further, digital employment expanded with 73 million workers worldwide in occupations that transition fully into digital roles. The rise of online freelancing and gig work accelerated inclusion. The number of global online gig workers surpassed 435 million and reflects a 41% increase in demand for online work between 2016 and 2023.

Top 8 Digital Economy Trends to Watch in 2026

1. AI and Hyperautomation Integration

In 2024, 13.9% of enterprises across the OECD and 13.5% across the EU-27 implemented AI, with large firms in the EU at 41.17% adoption. Within the EU, adoption rose by 5.5 percentage points in a single year, which is from 8% to 13.5% between 2023 and 2024.

 

Credit: eurostat

 

Further, research finds that work automation is expected to add 0.5-3.4 percentage points to annual productivity growth by synthesizing 63 use cases. In large, tradable digital-services hubs, firms deploying generative AI report expected productivity gains of 43-45% over five years, with software roles near 60%.

Moreover, coordinating AI with robotic process automation (RPA), process intelligence, and integration platforms is spreading. 60% of automation professionals say their organizations have used software automation for 5+ years, up from 47% a year earlier. Accounting/finance (67%), IT (53%), and operations (51%) are the most automated domains.

Similarly, 30% of enterprises in 2026 will automate more than half of their network activities, up from less than 10% in mid-2023. This will reduce latency and operational toil in the networks that carry cloud apps, streaming, and payments.

AI is becoming a standard tool in software development as 75% of enterprise software engineers will use AI code assistants by 2028.

Likewise, enterprise apps integrate autonomous task agents as forecasts indicate up to 40% of enterprise applications will include task-specific AI agents by 2026.

Spotlighting an Innovator: Autom Mate

US-based startup Autom Mate develops an automation and integration platform that connects applications, data, and AI agents in enterprise ecosystems.

It connects workflows between information technology service management (ITSM) systems, DevOps tools, and business applications through its hyperflow technology. The platform combines integration platform as a service (iPaaS), RPA, and business process automation (BPA).

Further, the platform automates service management, event remediation, customer operations, and configuration management database (CMDB) reconciliation in real time. This eliminates manual effort and reduces process delays.

Its agentic AI feature further enables intelligent digital agents to think, decide, and act autonomously in interconnected systems and ensure accurate execution and updates.

2. Platform Business Models & E-Commerce

In 2025, e-commerce will account for 20.5% of worldwide retail sales, up from 19.9% in 2024. Digitally deliverable services also made up about 55% of global services trade in 2023.

 

Credit: EMARKETER

 

Marketplace intermediation concentrates a significant portion of online retail. The top 100 online marketplaces processed about USD 3.83 trillion in GMV in 2024. These marketplaces also reorganize seller economics.

For instance, third-party sellers on Amazon accounted for 62% of units sold in Q4 2024, while seller fees reached one-fourth of company revenue.

 

 

Additionally, digital wallets are projected to handle over USD 25 trillion of transactions by 2027, 49% of all online and point-of-sale (PoS) payments combined. This embeds identity and authorization directly into marketplaces and merchant ecosystems, and lowers abandonment.

In parallel, the advertising rails of commerce migrate onto retail platforms that monetize first-party shopper data. For example, over 80% of 2025 global retail media spend will occur in the US and China.

Moreover, cross-border e-commerce is routed through global platforms that aggregate supply and logistics.

In 2024, consumer polling across major markets, Amazon held a 24% share of cross-border online purchases, Temu surged to 21%, AliExpress held 10%, and Shein held 9%. Additionally, the digitally delivered services are set to expand by around 4.7% in 2026 as platforms scale.

Spotlighting an Innovator: Vortex IQ

UK-based startup Vortex IQ offers an AI-powered operating system (OS) for commerce. It serves as a command center for merchants and partners to manage sales, marketing, and operational data.

The OS’s AI agent, Viq, connects e-commerce platforms like Shopify and Adobe Commerce with advertising, analytics, and customer systems to deliver unified, real-time insights.

The platform continuously scans integrated data sources to detect risks, inefficiencies, and growth opportunities, while providing plain-language recommendations that simplify decision-making. Key features include continuous monitoring, data integration, reporting through natural language queries, and a custom AI agent builder for enterprise workflows.

This way, Vortex IQ prevents revenue loss by identifying underperforming campaigns and low inventory, while optimizing conversions through automation and predictive insights.

3. Digital Payments and Embedded Finance

Digital wallets account for 83% of global digital payment volume in 2025, split 51% in-store and 49% online.

Meanwhile, national instant-payment systems are operating at mass-market levels. India’s UPI processed 19.63 billion transactions in September 2025 worth INR 24.89 lakh crore, followed by 20 billion transactions in August.

Similarly, the Federal Reserve reports that more than 1400 financial institutions live on FedNow by mid-2025 in the USA, up from 900 at the one-year mark.

Concurrently, UK open banking reached 15.16 million users in July 2025, with 29.89 million open-banking payments that month, while Brazil’s Pix underscores how embedded, bank-to-bank rails scale.

The Central Bank cites a single-day peak of 250.5 million Pix transactions handling BRL 124.4 billion. Within this, the new Pix Automatico feature is expected to add USD 30 billion in e-commerce payments within two years.

The US Faster Payments Council reports Pix transactions growing 2.5x faster than card transactions into Q4 2024.

Further, UK Finance reports 31.4 billion card transactions in 2024, with contactless accounting for 67% of credit card and 78% of debit card transactions in July 2025, and 1.69 billion contactless transactions in June 2025 worth GBP 27.1 billion.

Embedded credit at the point of sale is measurable in behavioral shifts. BNPL usage among 55-64-year-olds doubled from 10% in 2023 to 21% in 2024.

Platform-to-consumer real-time payments (RTP) adoption is also quantifiable in the USA, as FedNow averaged USD 190 million per day in payments, while The Clearing House RTP network reached USD 246 billion in 2024, up 94% year-over-year (YoY).

Spotlighting an Innovator: Fluidwave Technologies

Cyprus-based startup Fluidwave Technologies provides Fluid Cashier and Fluid Control, two integrated products that streamline digital payments for online gaming operators.

Fluid Cashier functions as a smart gaming payment interface that connects to multiple gateways, manages player deposits, and personalizes payment flows in real time. This reduces friction and increases successful transactions.

On the other hand, Fluid Control serves as a centralized analytics dashboard that monitors payment performance, tracks player behavior, and provides real-time insights into traffic quality and deposit patterns.

4. Web3, Blockchain & Decentralized Technologies

 

 

There were over 114 million crypto transactions per day across major blockchains as of June 2025. Within that, Solana recorded about 93 million transactions daily. The Bitcoin network processed around 327 000 transactions per day in May 2025.

 

 

In terms of adoption, nearly 4% of the global population (over 560 million people) are using blockchain in some capacity in 2025.

Within that figure, the Asia region alone has about 160 million blockchain users. Likewise, the Bitcoin SV (BSV) chain processed 152 million transactions in a single 24-hour period.

Moreover, institutional and regional usage volumes are also sizable.

For example, transfers via crypto networks and stablecoins frequently exceeded USD 2 trillion per month in North America during 2025. The peaks approached USD 3 trillion and a total adjusted transaction value of nearly USD 12.7 trillion between January and July 2025.

A research dataset extracted over 11 285 753 cross-chain transactions and moved more than USD 28 billion in the last seven months of 2024 across five cross-chain protocols.

Further, the Web3 social ecosystem had over 10 million active daily users as of July 2024. Simultaneously, the number of startups and companies in the Web3 space is reported at over 3200 startups and 17 000 companies, with an annual industry growth rate of 28% identified in 2025 commentary.

Spotlighting an Innovator: Vitreus

British Virgin Islands-based startup Vitreus builds a Layer-0 blockchain infrastructure that serves as a decentralized foundation for Web3 applications and services. It connects multiple Layer-1 blockchains through a modular and scalable architecture for developers to build decentralized applications with interoperability and minimal transaction costs.

Moreover, it integrates a dual-token system for separating governance functions handled by the VTRS token from transactional operations to ensure low fees and network stability even under heavy demand.

Its reputation-based staking model rewards validators for both stake and contribution quality. The decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN) framework further supports decentralized IoT and edge computing for smart cities, supply chain systems, and more.

 

 

5. 5G, IoT, and Connectivity

By Q2 2025, global 5G subscriptions reached 2.6 billion after adding 153 million in the quarter. 340+ operators launched commercial 5G, and two-thirds of all mobile subscriptions are expected to be 5G by 2030.

Moreover, population coverage broadens as 51% of the world’s population was within 5G coverage in 2024, with a disparity of 84% coverage in high-income countries versus 4% in low-income countries.

 

Credit: ITU

 

North America recorded 339 million 5G connections covering 88% of the population in Q2 2025, while quarterly cellular data traffic reached 43 million TB with an average of 111 GB per user per month.

On the other hand, T-Mobile ranks first and records average speeds of 177.5 Mbps overall and 252.4 Mbps on 5G connections, respectively.

Complementing terrestrial cellular, more than 1230 Wi-Fi 7 devices had been released, including 500+ personal computing devices, 169 phones, and nearly 550 gateways & APs by end-2024. Also, Wi-Fi 7 adoption is running roughly one year ahead of Wi-Fi 6E’s device count trajectory.

Similarly, cellular IoT connections approached 4 billion by end-2024, with a projected CAGR of 11% through 2030. In low-power wide-area networks (LPWAN), 200 public and private long-range wide area network (LoRaWAN) operators worldwide and an estimated 300 million sensors are deployed to date.

 

Credit: Google

 

Further, Google’s measurement shows that 44.08% of users accessed Google services over IPv6 on 20 October 2025.

Extending coverage beyond terrestrial cells, SpaceX completed an initial direct-to-device constellation of 400 satellites by December 2024. It partnered with the USA and New Zealand, and tests are underway with operators in Australia, Canada, Chile, Peru, and Japan.

Spotlighting an Innovator: Turnaxis

Kenyan startup Turnaxis offers TurnApp, a real-time monitoring platform that safeguards temperature-sensitive assets across logistics, manufacturing, and retail environments.

The platform operates through a network of Bluetooth low energy (BLE) sensors that continuously track temperature, humidity, and environmental conditions. They also transmit live data to a centralized cloud dashboard.

Further, the platform features AI analytics to detect anomalies and generate instant alerts when readings deviate from preset thresholds. This enables sub-minute response times and uninterrupted operational oversight.

Additionally, its automated documentation and reporting features ensure compliance with regulatory standards in sectors like pharmaceuticals, food logistics, and horticulture.

6. Workforce Transformation and Digital Skills

Employer expectations for job evolution show that 32% of the skills required for the average job in 2024 were different than those in 2021, while one-third of jobs experienced 75% skill change.

 

Credit: Lightcast

 

Similarly, 56% of EU citizens aged 16-74 had at least basic digital skills in 2023, compared with the EU Digital Decade target of 80% by 2030.

Further, over 10% of people hired globally on LinkedIn hold job titles that did not exist in 2000. Relatedly, LinkedIn projects that 70% of the skills used in most jobs today will change by 2030, which indicates the forthcoming skill shifts.

In 2025, 82% of leaders say that this year is important to rethink strategy and operations, and 81% expect AI agents to be moderately or extensively integrated into company AI strategies within 12-18 months.

 

Credit: Eurostat

 

Moreover, 24% of leaders report AI is already deployed organization-wide, while 12% remain in pilot mode.

As a result, the share of online vacancies requiring AI skills also increased by 33% on average in countries with initially low shares. The share in Spain is up by 155% and New Zealand is up by 150%.

However, 49% of learning and development (L&D) leaders agree that executives are concerned that employees lack the right skills to execute strategy.

Moreover, only 36% of organizations qualify as career development champions, and 31% have programs with limited adoption. Moreover, 33% have none or are just getting started, which indicates uneven organizational readiness for continuous upskilling.

Spotlighting an Innovator: Open Safety

Australian startup Open Safety provides IRIS, an AI-driven multilingual workforce training and compliance platform. It enhances safety communication and operational consistency across industries.

The platform converts complex regulatory and procedural content into accessible, interactive formats delivered through video, voice, and text in different languages. It integrates tools like Train with IRIS for interactive training, Search with IRIS for instant voice and text responses to safety queries, and Work with IRIS for executing safety procedures through voice commands.

These solutions eliminate paperwork and delays. Further, they support smart video translation for localized learning, AI-powered chat for real-time information exchange, and automated welfare and compliance checklists tailored to site-specific needs.

7. Data Privacy, Security & Digital Trust

The global average cost of a data breach dropped to USD 4.44 million in 2025, a 9% decrease from the 2024 average of USD 4.88 million. Meanwhile, more than 1732 data breaches had been publicly recorded by mid-2025. This represents a 10% increase in attack rates compared with the same period in the previous year.

Moreover, data protection laws covered 6.3 billion people, or 79.3% of the global population, by the end of 2024. 144 countries had enacted data and consumer privacy laws as of early 2025.

At the same time, 86% of organizations stated that privacy legislation had a positive impact on their organization, up from 80% a year earlier.

On the consumer side, a global survey found that 36% of consumers had actively changed their privacy settings on websites or apps in response to concerns about data-handling practices. The same percentage of consumers had also stopped using a website or deleted an app for privacy reasons.

 

Types of Companies Left by Privacy Actives

Credit: Cisco

 

Further, 47% of adults across 12 countries reported having terminated relationships with companies over data privacy policies. 33% left social-media platforms, 28% left internet-service providers (ISPs), and 23% stopped phone-service providers for the same reason.

 

 

Further, insider threats are growing as 50% of data loss incidents in 2024 were malicious. 38% of employees using AI also admitted to submitting sensitive work data into tools outside approved channels. There were six mega-breaches of 100+ million victims in 2024, and the total number of breaches reached 3158.

Spotlighting an Innovator: PrvyX

Swedish startup PrvyX makes a privacy-enhancing technology platform that enables organizations to collaborate securely on sensitive data without sharing or centralizing it. The platform runs computations on encrypted data using advanced cryptographic techniques.

Through data clean rooms and federated data networks, it allows institutions in regulated industries to perform joint analysis, detect fraud, or share threat intelligence. This maintains strict compliance with data protection regulations.

Additionally, the platform’s no-code AI interface simplifies data analysis and model training. Its cloud-agnostic architecture supports both centralized and on-premise deployment.

8. Sustainable Tech & Green Digital Transformation

A study of 287 Chinese cities found that a 1% increase in the Digital Economy Index corresponded to a 0.148% improvement in carbon-emission efficiency, and in high-GDP regions, this effect rose to 3.624%.

At the same time, the digital sector was responsible for 3.4% of global greenhouse-gas emissions in 2023.

Similarly, major AI-tech companies experienced an average 150% increase in indirect emissions from 2020 to 2023. Company-specific rise in indirect emissions was 182% for Amazon, 155% for Microsoft, 145% for Meta, and 138% for Alphabet.

Moving IT systems to the public cloud is expected to cut global carbon emissions by 59 million tons of CO2 each year, which equals a 5.9% drop in total IT emissions. That reduction is about the same as taking 22 million cars off the road.

The World Bank emphasizes that digital technologies support both strategies: closing the digital divide while advancing green transformation. However, climate risks like floods, heatwaves, and storms threaten digital infrastructure.

Moreover, OECD highlights that digitalization improves energy efficiency through tools like AI, digital twins, and IoT. They support smart grids and environmental modelling. At the same time, it cautions that digital technologies raise energy and resource demands from ICT production, use, and e-waste generation.

Spotlighting an Innovator: Sustable

Turkish startup Sustable makes an integrated sustainability management system (iSMS) that automates end-to-end sustainability processes for enterprises.

It centralizes data collection, analysis, and reporting within a single digital environment. This enables organizations to manage carbon, water, environmental, social, and governance (ESG), environmental, and financed emission operations.

The system includes tools for emission tracking, resource management, governance oversight, and portfolio emission control. They eliminate manual workloads and reduce dependence on external consultancy. This way, the system accelerates sustainability processes, improves workflow efficiency, and reduces operational costs.

Find the Right Innovation Partners to Lead the Next Decade

With thousands of emerging technologies and startups, navigating the right digital transformation investment and partnership opportunities that bring returns quickly is challenging.

With access to over 9 million emerging companies and 20K+ technologies & trends globally, our AI and Big Data-powered Discovery Platform equips you with the actionable insights you need to stay ahead of the curve in your market.

By leveraging this platform, anticipate regional shifts, capture growth in frontier markets, and invest confidently in the industries that will define the next decade. Stay prepared, resilient, and positioned to lead in 2026 and beyond.