Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for the digital transformation

The EC Joint Research Centre shares its knowledge on APIs and their adoption in organisations.

Owner

Joint Research Centre (JRC)

Academia/Scientific organisation

Contact information

Know more about APIs

Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) are the connecting nodes of the digital society, thus a foundational component of its digital transformation. The vast majority of data exchange and transactions in the digital era happen through APIs.

APIs are strategic components of platform environments and its role can be crucial in the governance and monitoring of such environments. They are also key for the uptake of AI and IoT applications. On the other hand, APIs are a serious cybersecurity concern, as they are vulnerable points in digital infrastructures.

The COVID-19 pandemic has uncovered global vulnerabilities related to data availability, accessibility and information flows. In crisis situations, it is critical to have timely access to relevant data and appropriate digital communication channels to interact with citizens, community groups, and businesses to provide services, inform the public, and engage with communities. In such circumstances, APIs can satisfy the hyper-connectivity demand thanks to their technical and organizational flexibility and also their scalability potential.

The European Commission understands the key role that APIs play in the digital sphere, and it is gaining deep understanding aspects of its adoption in organizations. This JoinUp collection presents a series of outputs that investigate on these aspects.

Consult the documentation

Reports

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., Application Programming Interfaces in Governments: Why, what and how, EUR 30227 EN, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2020, ISBN 978-92-76-18982-4, doi:10.2760/58129, JRC120429 (https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/publication/eur-scientific-and-technical-research-reports/application-programming-interfaces-governments-why-what-and-how
Boyd, M., Vaccari, L., Posada, M. and Gattwinkel, D., An Application Programming Interface (API) framework for digital government, EUR 30226 EN, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2020, ISBN 978-92-76-18980-0, doi:10.2760/772503, JRC120715 (https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/bitstream/JRC120715/final_version_pdf_version.pdf)
Santoro, M., Vaccari, L., Mavridis, D., Smith, R., Posada, M. and Gattwinkel, D., Web Application Programming Interfaces (APIs): general-purpose standards, terms and European Commission initiatives, EUR 29984 EN, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2019, 978-92-76-13183-0, doi:10.2760/675, JRC118082 (https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/publication/web-application-programming-interfaces-apis-general-purpose-standards-terms-and-european-commission)
Williams, M., Digital Government Benchmark – API study, Joint Research Centre (JRC), European Commission, Ispra (VA), Italy, 2018 (https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/document/digital-government-benchmark-api-study)

Webinars and workshops

European Commission, 'Workshop III: Unfolding opportunities from the use of APIs in Europe - regulatory perspective (EU data strategy, GDPR, PSD2)', 2021 (https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/collection/api4dt/event/workshop-iii-unfolding-opportunities-use-apis-europe-regulatory-perspective-eu-data-strategy-gdpr)
European Commission, ‘Workshop II (27/10/2020): API technical essentials: Public administration & private sector APIs co-design | Joinup’, 2020 (https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/collection/api4dt/event/workshop-ii-27102020-api-technical-essentials-public-administration-private-sector-apis-co-design).
European Commission, ‘Workshop I (25/09/2020): API technical essentials: Public administration & private sector APIs co-design’, 2020 (https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/collection/api4dt/event/workshop-i-25092020-api-technical-essentials-public-administration-private-sector-apis-co-design).
Webinar: Vaccari, L. and Posada, M., ‘Ideas and actions for a digital transformation in governments with APIs - Application Programming Interfaces for Governments (APIs4DGov) final workshop’, 2020 (https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/collection/innovative-public-services/document/ideas-and-actions-digital-transformation-governments-apis-application-programming-interfaces)
Webinar: European Commission, ‘Governance models, ecosystems and benefits of APIs for public sector organisations’, 2019 (https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/collection/elise-european-location-interoperability-solutions-e-government/event/elise-webinar-governance-models-ecosystems-and-benefits-apis-public-sector-organisations)
Workshop: European Commission, ‘Assessing government API strategies across the EU’, 2018 (https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/event/workshop/assessing-government-api-strategies-across-eu)

Datasets

Boyd, M. and Vaccari, L., API best practice documents relevant to governments: comprehensive literature review, European Commission, 2020 [Dataset], PID (http://data.europa.eu/89h/7340ab8a-ef73-459b-a2d9-b64e1a5bb680)
Vaccari, L. and Santoro, M., API standards and technical specifications, European Commission, 2019 [Dataset], PID (http://data.europa.eu/89h/5a431f38-1e2c-449a-898e-34f2a3234c3b)
Vaccari, L., Publicly available API government cases, European Commission, 2020 [Dataset], PID (http://data.europa.eu/89h/45ca8d82-ac31-4360-b3a1-ba43b0b07377)

Tools

Boyd, M., Vaccari, L., Posada, M. and Gattwinkel, D., ‘API framework self-assessment maturity tool for governments’, 2020 (https://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/runner/APIFrameworkTool)