This paper focuses on the participation of small and medium-sized enterprises in the development of production in the conditions of a rapidly growing digital economy. The modern economy is already heavily dependent on the ICT sector. In particular, as a result of economic and statistical analysis, the authors argue that the development of entrepreneurship in the field of ICT positively affects the macroeconomic indicators of the country. In addition, an important issue is the expected reformatting of labor demand. In these conditions, small and medium-sized enterprises are one of the segments consuming human resources in the labor market. With appropriate state support and assistance in obtaining additional education in a new, relevant direction by employees of traditional professions, human resources would get the qualifications required in the digital economy. In addition, they would provide the ICT sector with the essential staff to accelerate industrial growth in the context of the digital economy. © 2021, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.