Application Programming interfaces for Governments: why, what and how
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The document discusses the importance of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) in the digital transformation of governments, emphasizing their role as key enablers for innovative public services and effective governance. It outlines various case studies, benefits, costs, and the necessary strategies for government API implementations, alongside policy recommendations for fostering an ecosystem conducive to digital engagement. The APIs4dgov project showcases best practices and operational frameworks to enhance service provision and data accessibility in public administration.
![Bibliography
• Boyd, M. and Vaccari, L. (2020), API best practice documents relevant to governments: comprehensive literature review, European
Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) [Dataset], PID: http://data.europa.eu/89h/7340ab8a-ef73-459b-a2d9-b64e1a5bb680.
• European Commission (2019), 'Survey on APIs4DGov API framework validation' (https://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/runner/ab936330-03ee-
5669-4d2f-81ed90066c14) (accessed 16 January 2020).
• Santoro, M., Vaccari, L., Mavridis, D., Smith, R., Posada, M. and Gattwinkel, D. (2019), 'Web Application Programming Interfaces
(APIs): general-purpose standards, terms and European Commission initiatives', EUR 29870 EN, Publications Office of the European
Union, Luxembourg, 2019, ISBN 978-92-76-11713-1 (online), doi:10.2760/85021 (online), JRC118082
(https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/publication/web-application-programming-interfaces-apis-general-purpose-standards-terms-and-european-
commission) (accessed 20 November 2019).
• Vaccari, L. (2020), Government publicly available API cases - APIs4DGov, European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC)
[Dataset], PID: http://data.europa.eu/89h/45ca8d82-ac31-4360-b3a1-ba43b0b07377.
• Vaccari, L. and Santoro, M. (2019), API standards and technical specifications - APIs4DGov, European Commission, Joint Research
Centre (JRC) [Dataset], PID: http://data.europa.eu/89h/5a431f38-1e2c-449a-898e-34f2a3234c3b.
• Williams, M. (2018), Digital Government Benchmark - API study, Joint Research Centre (JRC), European Commission, Ispra (VA), Italy
(https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/document/digital-government-benchmark-api-study) (accessed 19 March 2019).](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/apis4dgov-final-workshop-publicversion-200409125104/85/Application-Programming-interfaces-for-Governments-why-what-and-how-19-320.jpg)
Application Programming interfaces for Governments: why, what and how
- 1. ‘Ideas and actions for a digital transformation’ with APIs Application Programming Interfaces for Digital Government (APIs4DGov) study: final workshop Lorenzino Vaccari, Monica Posada 3rd April 2020
- 2. • Why APIs matters in government? • The APIs4DGov project • State of the art • Costs and benefits • API framework for governments • Policy recommendations The Application Programming Interfaces for Governments (APIs4DGov) study
- 3. Digital transformation in governments is extremely challenging • Citizens expect Government to adapt to the digital era and innovate public digital services • Create robust digital ecosystems dealing with privacy issues and cyber-security • Support EC priorities and implement policy documents • Oversee the behaviour of external digital ecosystems APIs are the key technical enablers of digital transformation of Governments Why APIs matter? Source: Licenced from AdobeStock.com
- 4. Why APIs in government? Source: own elaboration based on (Lacheca, 2016) Government as API provider • API strategies can support organizational change management along their transformation process • APIs facilitate flexible, effective, inclusive, accountable public service provision • APIs enable government interactions • Internal (G2G) • External (G2G, G2B, B2G)
- 5. 1. Whether and why should governments adopt APIs? 2. Which government actions should be taken in developing government APIs? APIs4DGov project What? • Definitions, glossary, policy context • Landscape: cases, strategies, standards, best practices • Key enablers, drivers, barriers, risks Why? • Costs and challenges • Benefits • Social highlights How? • EU API framework • Thematic areas and technologies to focus on • Policy recommendations Source: Licenced from AdobeStock.com
- 6. Research methodology (Source: ICT Impact Assessment Guidelines, ISA2 Program) • API strategies • INSPIRE hack • APIdays Helsinki • APIdays Barcelona • APIdays Paris • 7 Case studies • API experts • Private companies • Pilot Governments sites EU Policy web sites Previous studies ProgrammableWeb Data catalogues • • • • • API strategies FW validation INSPIRE conference Online framework • • • • • Cases • Standards • Best practices • Trends • Domains • Technologies • Costs • Benefits • Drivers • Enablers • Barriers • Risks • Strategies • Recommendations • Private sector • Metrics • Technologies • Internal issues & gains • State of the art in EU • Technical issues • Private sector solutions • Knowledge transfer • Validation • Community building
- 7. Trends Source: JRC, own elaboration based on ProgrammableWeb.com
- 8. State of the art: API best practices Source: JRC, own elaboration
- 9. When implemented, the API uptake is huge! Approx. 5000 IT systems which draw data from DAWA Unique point of access for addresses for everybody (OOP) 2500 developers registered in the System Around 50 apps developed 925 institutions and enterprises connected, including 706 public sector institutions 99% of government services covered Circa 52,000 organisations as indirect users of X-Road services 350m requests per year Visitors per month: 8000, average time spent using the data interface: 20 minutes 10713 registered Map Requester Initiators (MRI), made up of 1502 companies and 1258 citizens 200,000 map requests a year, for each request 6-7 utility company involved Denmark’s Addressers Web API (DAWA): A unique access point for the addresses in Denmark Amsterdam city data: a single portal providing developers with a ReST API Flanders Underground - Cable and Pipe Information Portal (KLIP): was created in 2007 following a gas explosion in 2004 caused loss of life Madrid MobilityLabs: an open and interoperable API based platform Future Internetware (FIWARE): is an open platform which can be harnessed by developers to create and deliver smart, data- driven solutions, applications and services Estonia X-Road: is an API driven data exchange ecosystem platform that was initially developed between 1998 and 2001 Italian Digital Transformation Team: building a specific API project Three years national ICT plan ‘API-first’ EU Standard Based platform for IoT and Smart Cities Source: JRC, own elaboration
- 10. The French government public API registry
- 11. • Reduction of costs • Improve the quality of digital assets • Improve internal processes and digital public services • Enhance reporting flows in government processes • Improve access to (Open) data Benefits: Efficiency gains Source: Licenced from AdobeStock.com
- 12. • Fostering innovation in the public sector • Enablement of digital ecosystems • Economic opportunities • Help SMEs reducing costs of establishing and running business • Easier access to Open Data can further stimulate new economic development Additional benefits (Source: Marco Panebianco, Regione Lombardia) (Source: Patrick Amarelis, DINUM, France)
- 13. • Implement a whole of government platform vision and re-engineering existing systems towards APIs • Cultural change, need to acquire new skills • Increase the cyber-security • Adhere to legislation (e.g. adoption of GDPR) • Improve the policy understanding and support Costs Challenges (Figure: A conceptual model for a digital information supply chain. Source: (Brenton et al., 2018) (Source: DINUM - France)
- 14. How to implement APIs in governments? Policy support Platform and ecosystems People Processes API strategy 1. Align APIs with policy goals 2. Define the government API platform 3. Create API governance structures 4. Form guiding principles for API processes API tactics 5. Design metrics and prioritize API by policy goals 6. Harmonize data models and other platform/ecosyst ems assets 7. Establish cross- competency teams 8. Follow an API product approach API operations 9. Measure policy impacts of APIs 10. Build API platform components 11. Appoint API product manager(s) 12. Adopt an API lifecycle approach Source: JRC, own elaboration
- 15. • Explicitly adopt APIs in governments • Create and improve the ‘API culture’ in governments • Utilize and validate our API framework • Become digital ecosystem aware: Engage both public EU governments actors and the private sector Policy recommendations
- 16. • Transversal • Public service provision and Open Data • Geospatial and Statistics • Smart cities and Citizen science • Vertical • Health • Environment and Earth observation • Mobility • Meteorology, Agriculture • Companies and Financial • Energy, Industrial Thematic areas (Source: courtesy from Andrea Borruso)
- 17. Multi-access Edge Computing deployment across different enterprise networks. (Source: IEEE) Datafication paradigm (Source: JRC, own elaboration • Artificial Intelligence • Internet of Things • Edge computing • Digital twins • Autonomous things • Big Data and Cloud computing • Microservices • Blockchain Technologies
- 18. To know more Ongoing publications (June 2020)
- 19. Bibliography • Boyd, M. and Vaccari, L. (2020), API best practice documents relevant to governments: comprehensive literature review, European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) [Dataset], PID: http://data.europa.eu/89h/7340ab8a-ef73-459b-a2d9-b64e1a5bb680. • European Commission (2019), 'Survey on APIs4DGov API framework validation' (https://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/runner/ab936330-03ee- 5669-4d2f-81ed90066c14) (accessed 16 January 2020). • Santoro, M., Vaccari, L., Mavridis, D., Smith, R., Posada, M. and Gattwinkel, D. (2019), 'Web Application Programming Interfaces (APIs): general-purpose standards, terms and European Commission initiatives', EUR 29870 EN, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2019, ISBN 978-92-76-11713-1 (online), doi:10.2760/85021 (online), JRC118082 (https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/publication/web-application-programming-interfaces-apis-general-purpose-standards-terms-and-european- commission) (accessed 20 November 2019). • Vaccari, L. (2020), Government publicly available API cases - APIs4DGov, European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) [Dataset], PID: http://data.europa.eu/89h/45ca8d82-ac31-4360-b3a1-ba43b0b07377. • Vaccari, L. and Santoro, M. (2019), API standards and technical specifications - APIs4DGov, European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) [Dataset], PID: http://data.europa.eu/89h/5a431f38-1e2c-449a-898e-34f2a3234c3b. • Williams, M. (2018), Digital Government Benchmark - API study, Joint Research Centre (JRC), European Commission, Ispra (VA), Italy (https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/document/digital-government-benchmark-api-study) (accessed 19 March 2019).
- 20. Main policy instruments* • European Union (2019), Directive (EU) 2019/1024 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on open data and the re-use of public sector information, OJ L 172, 26.6.2019, p. 56–83. • European Union (2015b), Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2015 on payment services in the internal market, amending Directives 2002/65/EC, 2009/110/EC and 2013/36/EU and Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010, and repealing Directive 2007/64/EC, OJ L 337, 23.12.2015, p. 35–127. • European Union (2007), Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 March 2007 establishing an Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE), OJ L 108, 25.4.2007, p. 1–14. • European Union (2018), Regulation (EU) 2018/1724 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 2 October 2018 establishing a single digital gateway to provide access to information, to procedures and to assistance and problem-solving services and amending Regulation (EU) No 1024/2012 (Text with EEA relevance.), OJ L 295, 21.11.2018. • European Commission (2018), Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the Digital Europe programme for the period 2021-2027, COM/2018/434, .2018. • European Commission (2020), Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the regions - A European strategy for data, COM/2020/66, .2020. • European Commission (2017a), Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the regions - European Interoperability Framework – Implementation Strategy, COM/2017/134, .2017. • European Commission (2017b), Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the regions - Building a European data economy, COM/2017/09, .2017. • European Union (2015a), Decision (EU) 2015/2240 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2015 establishing a programme on interoperability solutions and common frameworks for European public administrations, businesses and citizens (ISA2 programme) as a means for modernising the public sector, OJ L 318, 4.12.2015, p. 1–16. * The complete list is available in the APIs4DGov final report
- 21. EU Science Hub: https://ec.europa.eu/jrc @EU_ScienceHub EU Science Hub – Joint Research Centre EU Science, Research and Innovation Eu Science Hub jrc-apis4dgov@ec.europa.eu Keep in touch
- 22. Thank you* © European Union 2020 Unless otherwise noted the reuse of this presentation is authorised under the CC BY 4.0 license. For any use or reproduction of elements that are not owned by the EU, permission may need to be sought directly from the respective right holders. * This work has been performed thanks to the whole ’APIs4DGov extended team’ (Vaccari L., Posada M., Boyd M., Gattwinkel D., Mavridis D., Smith R. S., Santoro M., Nativi S., Medjaoui M., Reusa I., Switzer S., Friis-Christensen A.) and by many colleagues and external experts. “Data is vital for modern digital ecosystems. Like water for the biological ecosystems, it sustains them and can be used in a huge number of ways. But data without APIs is like water in a well: to use water you have to go there, load your bucket and bring it home. With APIs data will come to your tap.”