Workshop II (27/10/2020): API technical essentials: Public administration & private sector APIs co-design

This was the second of a series of events where API stakeholders (experts, practitioners, decision makers, etc.) gathered together to discuss relevant issues about technical, organisational and governance API-related issues. 

The event had a success in terms of participation (ca 50 participants) presentations and discussion. A big thank to Isabelle Mauny, Erik Wilde and Darrel Miller  and to all the participants for making it possible.

In this occasion, API experts from the private sector gave us amazing and insightful presentations about the technical essentials of APIs for public sector innovation, namely:

• API governance and lifecycle management aspects
• Discoverability and documentation of APIs: OpenAPI specification (OAS)
• API security

An participated 30' Q&A session followed the presentations.

More information about the event

The huge experience of the banking sector on APIs could be very valuable for adopting APIs also in other domains, such as the public sector. That's why at the APIdays London, in collaboration with the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission, this specific workshop on 'API technical essentials for government'  has been organised. At the workshop, three worldwide experts, namely Erik Wilde, Darrel Miller and Isabelle Mauny illustrated us, respectively, the main aspects regarding the API governance, OAS and how to deal with API security in governments.

The workshop was part of the overall APIdays London conference  "The Road to Embedded Finance, Banking and Insurance with APIs" was expected 1,000+ participants (IT Managers, Architects, CTOs, Senior Developers, PMs and Business Execs) and the speaker lineup was very impressive. Banking and finance have always been highly centralized in their hierarchy, their business model and their information system, but in the digital age, in order to avoid Bill Gates’ 1994 prophecy that banks would become obsolete, the industry requires modification and innovation. With the explosion of digital channels and apps powered by APIs, modern generations no longer visit their local banking branch for their financial needs. We want to access banking services not where they are, but where we are. It is up to the bank to adapt to modern, multichannel customer journeys. This new demand, combined with the emergence of innovative software technologies, is creating a fresh form of finance that is embedded and decentralized through APIs that allow your bank services and your data to end up on third-party applications.

Thanks to these interfaces, banks and insurers can export their services to other customer journeys and find themselves not only on their own mobile application, but in a trove of outside platforms. Applications for things like vehicle purchasing or real estate agencies that assist in making rental or purchase offers, e-commerce websites that allow consumers to pay on credit at the time of purchase and a multitude of other customer experiences exist outside of the banking world, yet they benefit immensely from banking services. Because of this, the economy of banking and embedded finance is estimated at nearly $7.2 trillion – more than two times the current banking market creating a monumental opportunity for both traditional players and Fintechs.

At apidays London, the main topic was explored i.e., how APIs enable incumbents to surf on embedded finance. Our workshop in particular analysed how some of the practices of the bank sector and the private sector could be applied to the public sector.