The rapid development of the new generation of information and communication technology makes data elements become an important force driving economic growth. As the main holder of social data resources, the government should properly disclose government data to improve government governance efficiency and create economic value, regardless of the public’s right to know or economic and social benefits. This paper focuses on the relationship between open government data and economic growth. Theoretical analysis points out that open public data, on the one hand, provides production, innovation and other required data elements for social and economic activities, and directly drives economic growth. On the other hand, the economic growth effect can be brought into play indirectly by improving the efficiency of government governance. Using a sample of 1 911 countries from 2004 to 2019, the empirical study finds that open government data significantly boosts economic growth. The mediating effect test results show that although the indirect effect of government governance efficiency is significant, the direct economic growth effect plays a dominant role. Heterogeneity analysis results show that the more advanced ICT is, the greater the promotion effect of open government data on economic growth is, which means that “Technology + Data” is an important way to give full play to the value of government data elements.