The concept of open governance is a renewing approach that became more actual due to the progressive development of modern technologies, that makes it easier to access, work with and use information to make smart decisions and implement smart solutions. Open governance is a culture of governance based on innovative and sustainable public policies and practices inspired by the principles of transparency, accountability and participation that promote democracy and inclusive growth. Moreover, from the theoretical point of view, the paper highlights and explains also the link between the open governance and concept of smart governance. Subsequently, the paper presents the partial research results of the questionnaire survey among the representatives of the Slovak district cities realized in 2024 focused on identifying the level of open governance that they implement. The results showed that there is a significant gap between the theoretical and practical level of implementation of open governance in Slovak district cities, especially in participation of stakeholders. The cities prefer to use the obligatory and offline tools for the stakeholders´ engagement into policy making, what is not in line with the international trends as well as with trends in local policy and development. The limited attention is paid to the ethical aspects of open governance, digitalization and education of municipal employees involved. Based on the comparison of research results with the recommendations of OECD, EU and OGP, the paper proposes the potential recommendations on how to develop further this concept and overcome the identified barriers with support of smart solutions.