The role of open data in the transformation to Society 5.0: a resource or a tool for SDG-compliant Smart Living?

Abstract: Open data are characterized by a number of economic, technological, innovative and social benefits. They are seen as a significant contributor to the city's transformation into Smart City. This is all the more so when the society is on the border of Society 5.0, i.e., shift from the information society to a super smart society or society of imagination takes place. However, the question constantly asked by open data experts is, what are the key factors to be met and satisfied in order to achieve promised benefits? The current trend of openness suggests that the principle of openness should be followed not only by data but also research, education, software, standard, hardware etc., it should become a philosophy to be followed at different levels, in different domains. This should ensure greater transparency, eliminating inequalities, promoting, and achieving sustainable development goals. Therefore, many agendas now have openness as a prerequisite. This chapter deals with concepts of open (government) data and Society 5.0 pointing to their common objectives, providing some success stories of open data use in smart cities or transformation of cities towards smart cities, mapping them to the features of the Society 5.0. We believe that this trend develops a new form of society, which we refer to as "open data-driven society". It forms a bridge from Society 4.0 to Society 5.0. This Chapter attempts to identify the role of openness in promoting human-centric Smart Society, Smart city, and Smart Living.