Our future digital life will gravite more and more around data – data describing what is happening around us, where, when and why. Collecting this data using interoperable data spaces provides the opportunity to create a digital representation of the real world – The Digital Twin. Using artificial intelligence and big data analytics enables the creation of smart solutions to increase e.g. the quality of life of people living in cities and in rural areas as well as reducing the costs of operating these communities. The presentation will describe how such digital platforms and data spaces are created using open source on the one side and open standards on the other side illustrated by best practices from around the world.