Resumen: 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. Idioma: Inglés DOI: 10.29379/jedem.v13i2.644 Año: 2021 Publicado en: eJournal of eDemocracy and Open Government 13, 2 (2021), 1-27 ISSN: 2075-9517 Factor impacto CITESCORE: 1.1 - Social Sciences (Q2) - Computer Science (Q4)