Open data are attracting increasing scholarly attention and the number of open data initiatives in the digital industry is growing. Value and demand for data are boosted even more by platformization and the recent surge in AI development. As a result of the growing interest in and use of open data, a conceptual variation has evolved that does not resonate well with the prevalent dichotomous view of openness, which typically assumes that a certain set of conditions needs to be met for data to be considered open. Our conceptual review of the use of “open data” in the management literature reveals that open data is a multidimensional concept. We identify six main dimensions in our conceptual analysis, and argue that—rather than seeing data as either open or closed—these dimensions can be used to design the openness of data. This design perspective holds great potential for future research and practice to expand the use of open data in private business contexts where the value of open data is still largely untapped. The freedom to design openness may incentivize private firms to open up data, and unleash powers of innovation and economic growth.