The COVID-19 pandemic has caused the acceleration of digitization and the consideration of digital financial inclusion as a means to minimize negative economic consequences and increase the resilience of households and SMEs. The purpose of this article was to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on digital financial inclusion by constructing and calculating an integral index of digital financial inclusion (DFI) based on Global Findex Database indicators. The approach to calculating the DFI index and two sub-indices that characterized passive participation in financial relations and active use of digital technologies was based on a linear mathematical model of the integrated indicator and on the use of the Fishburn formula to calculate the weight coefficients. The obtained results proved the acceleration of digital financial inclusion in 2021 and revealed significant differences in DFI between countries and groups of countries according to income level as well as problems of financial exclusion of the most vulnerable groups of population, especially in developing countries. The obtained results regarding the level of DFI are discussed from the point of view of COVID-19 impacts: both directly by influencing consumer behavior and decisions regarding digital financial services and from a broader perspective by influencing business entities, financial service providers, and regulation.

In public administration, digital technologies are considered a necessary direction of technical modernisation, improving the work of government agencies and the quality of their interaction with stakeholders. However, along with the benefits, several ethical concerns exist about using digital technologies. The purpose of the article is to analyse the state of the implementation of digital innovations in the field of public administration, as well as to systemise and analyse the main groups of ethical concerns arising in connection with the use of digital technologies in public administration. The article uses methods of bibliometric, comparative, and statistical analysis. The Google trends toolkit was used to study global trends in interest in e-governance, e-government, digital government, and related terms. Digital government and e-government were identified as the most common terms to define the use of digital technologies in public administration. The bibliographic analysis was carried out using VOSviewer v.1.6.18 based on Scopus articles for 2001-2022 and made it possible to identify four clusters of scientific research on e-government / digital government and ethics. The analysis used the criterion of at least five times the co-occurrence of all keywords in publications. Based on data from the World Bank, an analysis of the level of maturity of government technologies in European countries, particularly Ukraine, was carried out. The analysis showed that most countries had reached a very high level of e-government development in the European region. In recent years, Ukraine has significantly increased the indicators of the level of e-government, especially regarding the provision of digital administrative services. The article systematises the main ethical issues of using digital technologies in public administration. Three ethical problems were formed, namely 1) privacy, security, and data protection; 2) transparency and accountability; 3) inclusion, accessibility, and non-discrimination. The third group is defined as the most relevant at the current moment. The growing digital divide in the world necessitates the search for effective mechanisms to increase digital inclusion and ensure equal access to e-government for all stakeholders. The results of the research can be useful for scientists, state, and local self-government bodies in managing their technological and digital modernisation.

A smart city is a complex concept that can be analyzed from different aspects and points of view. E-governance plays a key role in facilitating the integration of all elements of a smart city. The purpose of the article is to investigate key enablers of e-governance in terms of economic, social, political, information and technological indicators. The research base includes 68 smart cities selected on the basis of different regional affiliations and different economic, social and political developments. The authors apply the methods of cluster analysis (to divide smart cities into clusters according to e-governance indicators); construction of an integral indicator using the linear mathematical model and the Fishburn formula; VAR/VEC modeling (to stud the key factors influencing the development of e-government in smart cities). It was found that the Human Development Index has the greatest impact on e-governance, while the GNI per capita indicator demonstrated the absence of influence for all clusters. The factor of information technologies was defined as the main factor of direct influence on the Smart City Governance Index for smart cities of the first cluster with the highest indicators of e-governance.

The development of digital technologies is one of the factors influencing the cities’ readiness for the COVID-19 breakout. The purpose of this article is to assess cities’ resilience to the COVID-19 pandemic depending on the “smart” level criteria. The article uses the following research methods: (1) bibliometric analysis to identify the main directions of scientific research regarding “COVID-19” and “smart city” in Scopus publications for 2019–2022; (2) k-means clustering method to identify common patterns among smart cities regarding their readiness and responsiveness to COVID-19; (3) correlation analysis to identify the relationships between smart city performance indicators and COVID-19 severity in these cities. The Smart City Index 2021 was a key criterion for classifying a city as smart for this study. The correlation analysis included two stages: (1) correlation analysis of the Smart City Rank and indicators of COVID-19 readiness and responsiveness; (2) correlation analysis of the Smart City Rank and its health care components and COVID-19 severity indicators. According to the study results, smart cities demonstrated higher COVID-19 readiness and lower COVID-19 fatality rates. However, they lag behind in terms of resilience and sustainability of their health care systems.

Type of the article: Research Article AbstractDigital technologies have become a key driver of economic growth, competitiveness, and social inclusion, while significant disparities in digital development persist across national economies. The aim of this study is to map and interpret the trajectories of digital transformation in 30 selected European countries (EU member states, associated economies, and Ukraine) during 2011–2022. The study employs the self-organizing map (SOM) with Ward hierarchical clustering to uncover latent structures of digital development, using a balanced panel of 20 indicators across three domains: ICT sector development, digital infrastructure, and digital technology adoption and skills. Cluster validity was assessed via the Elbow Method, Silhouette Coefficient, Calinski-Harabasz, and Davies-Bouldin indices. Results indicate that the two-cluster solution is statistically robust, while the three-cluster solution provides additional insight into transitional patterns of digital transformation. The two-cluster solution revealed a clear distinction between digital leaders and less advanced economies, with the greatest disparities observed in online banking (71% vs. 29%), online purchases (68% vs. 32%), and e-government use (68% vs. 34%). The three-cluster solution provided further nuance, showing that in 2011 most European economies were concentrated in the weakest cluster, while only Northern Europe achieved high levels of digitalization. By 2020, all European countries had reached at least the middle cluster, reflecting a shift from strong polarization toward a more balanced distribution of digital development. Despite progress, structural gaps remain, emphasizing the need for policies that advance digital skills, encourage inclusive adoption, and build trust in online services to sustain digital transformation. AcknowledgmentThe authors acknowledge with gratitude the financial support provided by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine for the research project “Cybersecurity and digital transformations of the country’s wartime economy: the fight against cybercrime, corruption and the shadow sector”, state registration number 0124U000544).

The article is aimed at the current issues of using smart technologies and innovative approach during evolution and transformation processes in banking. The study identifies the special place of this topic for achieving a high level of efficiency and competitiveness of banks and characterizes the impact of the introduction of technological approaches on the customer base and its perception of banking products. The main functions of banking innovations in this area are analyzed and the justification of their feasibility at the present stage of economic development is provided. A number of the most promising technologies and approaches to banking activities are allocated, namely: contactless payment, digital wallets, biometric identification, person-to-person payments, collective financing, omnichannel banking, interaction with FinTech companies, blockchain, big data, artificial intelligence, smart machines, Internet of Things, behavioral banking, retail bank, application programming interfaces, multi-component bank, open banking, augmented reality, robotic automation, hybrid clouds. The relevance of the identified areas is proved based on their perception by analyzing the popularity of the identified topics in Google search queries using the Google Trends tool. The perception of smart technologies in banking by Internet users in the world and specifically in Ukraine is investigated, which gave grounds to conclude that there is a significant interest in them, and therefore the expediency of further study and implementation in the activities of banks. It is identified that the most perspective technologies are biometric identification, blockchain, Internet of Things, big data analysis, artificial intelligence, etc. Several technologies have been identified, namely, collective financing (crowdfunding), application programming interfaces (APIs) and digital wallets, which are less popular in Ukraine than in the world in general, and therefore require detailed research and study of the relevance of their application in the domestic banking market. Possible directions for further innovative development of banking institutions based on the use of smart technologies are proposed. Based on panel data for 60 banks of Ukraine for the period 2014-2022, the author analyzes the correlations between the indicators of the use of digital technologies and the financial performance of banks and builds regression dependencies of financial indicators of banks on the indicator of the number of electronic means of payment in active circulation. The theoretical value of the study is to identify the most promising smart technologies and innovative approaches to banking business in modern conditions. The practical value lies in studying the level of perception of high-tech innovations in the field of banking services by the active public and identifying further directions for the development of this process. We consider it advisable to direct further research in the context of a detailed study of the possibilities of applying the identified technologies in specific banking products or business processes.