Breakthroughs in cloud computing, big data, internet of things, artificial intelligence, big data, mobile internet, 5G and other new-generation information technologies have given the digital economy great development and profoundly changed human production and lifestyle. Countries everywhere around the world are making the digital economy a bedrock of their economic development to seek new advantages in national competitive development. As the digital transformation pushes forward, demand for digital talents is soaring, a lack of available talent has restricted the digital economy’s development. Since 2017, the Tsinghua SEM Center for Internet Development and Governance (CIDG) and the LinkedIn Economic Graph team have collaborated to study "digital talent", with long-term analysis and tracking of the development status and trends of digital talents from a global perspective.

Since 2020, based on public data from LinkedIn, CIDG has annually conducted analysis and insights on digital talents in the world's leading innovative cities (regions). Our study presents the development status of global digital talents and the development trend of the digital economy from an in-depth analysis of industry distribution, skill characteristics and migration of talents. Our goal is to assist diverse countries and cities worldwide to better understand their own strengths and weaknesses of talent, the global talent trends, and to bring reference and inspiration to how to develop the digital economy in the future.

Tsinghua SEM Center for Internet Development and Governance (CIDG), founded in April 2016, was established by School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University in response to the National Strategy of Reinvigorating China through Network on the basis of the college in the research on Internet economy and management, talent training advantage, and international influence. Committed to leading the digital transformation of China's economy by thought, the center integrates the global resources of top-level experts, makes full use of cutting-edge technologies including Internet, big data, etc., carries out research work focusing on the fields of digital economy, business innovation in the era of global interconnection, digital transformation of Chinese economy, Internet governance, etc., provides objective reference suggestions for improving the scientific decision-making level of government and boosting technology and business innovation and the development of public service, and also constructs the platform for cooperation for promoting the development of digital economy and industrial innovation.