ABSTRACT

Current open data systems lag behind in their promised value creation and sustainability. The objective of the current study is twofold: 1) to investigate whether existing open data systems meet the requirements of open data ecosystems, and 2) to develop a research agenda that discusses the gaps between current open data systems on the one hand and participatory, value-creating, sustainable open data ecosystems on the other hand. The literature reveals that the main characteristics of value-creating, sustainable open data ecosystems are user-drivenness, inclusiveness, circularity, and skill-based. Our comparative case study of five open data systems in various application domains and countries highlighted that none of these systems are real open data ecosystems: they often do not balance open data supply and demand, exclude specific user groups and domains, are linear, and lack skill-training. We elaborate on a research agenda that discusses how research should address the challenge of making open data ecosystems more value-generating and sustainable.

Citation: van Loenen, B., Zuiderwijk, A. ., Vancauwenberghe, G., Lopez-Pellicer, F. J. ., Mulder, I., Alexopoulos, C. ., Magnussen, R., Saddiqa, M., Dulong de Rosnay, M., Crompvoets, J., Polini, A., Re, B., & Casiano Flores, C. (2021). Towards value-creating and sustainable open data ecosystems: A comparative case study and a research agenda. JeDEM – EJournal of EDemocracy and Open Government, 13(2), 1-27. https://doi.org/10.29379/jedem.v13i2.644

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