Big Data and digital economy

In this paper, Big Data is considered as an "umbrella" term that combines various concepts, technologies and methods of data processing in distributed information systems that provide a qualitatively new useful information (new knowledge). The stages of "standard" research in the Big Data approach are described. A brief description of the Big Data ecosystem, which consists of several main categories, is given. Various projects and initiatives at the national and international levels are considered, as well as examples of the use of Big Data in business, economy, and society. As concrete examples of the construction and use of analytical platforms for Big Data, successful socio-economic research carried out by the authors as part of research teams at the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics is presented. The Big data metaphor is certainly successful, since it naturally connects a complex of concepts, technologies and methods of Big data with the economy by hinting at a connection with other well-known metaphors –"Big oil", "Big ore", etc.