Connotation and development history of digital economy

With the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, the digital economy has become a new engine of global economic growth, and new industries and economic models will continue to emerge. The digital economy has become a strategic high point of competition among countries and a new driving force of global economic growth in the new era, and all countries in the world are facing an important strategic opportunity period. This paper shows the value and potential of the digital economy by theoretically  summarizing and analyzing its basic connotation, including its basic definition, development history, dissemination mechanism, and development law. The study released by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development concluded that the epidemic crisis has intensified the digitalization process of the whole society, and the use of digital solutions, tools, and services has brought positive economic growth, which has also inspired many countries to find new breakthrough points for economic growth and accelerated the transformation of the global economy to digitalization. The digital economy in the post-crisis era will continue to accelerate this trend, and the underlying trends of the global digital economy will further strengthen, which will bring profound impacts and changes to digitally vulnerable countries. This presents an important research direction for studying the digital economy to enhance ESG development today.