HICSS 2021 presentation

1. Visualizing the Maturing Global
API Ecosystem
PhD candidate Saeid Heshmatisafa
DSc (Tech) Jukka Huhtamäki
Prof. Marko Seppänen
Tampere University, FINLAND
November 2021
HICSS55, Jan 3-7, 2022

2. Agenda
•Introduction
•Related Work
•Methodology
•Analysis and results
•Discussion
•Conclusion and further research
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3. Introduction
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4. Introduction
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Paradigm
shift
Boundary resources as an enabler of
digital transformation, innovation, and
interfirm collaboration.
Research
purpose
Examine global collaboration and
geographic proximity of the API
ecosystem.
Research
question
Does digital transformation dissolve the
importance of geographical
proximity?
Research
assumption
1.Geographic proximity is distorted,
and the global API ecosystem is
decentralized.
2.Open co-innovation is rather prone to
geographic nearness and
centralized.

5. Related Work
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6. APIs and Mashups
• Allows two computer programs to interconnect
with one another over a network.1
• APIs at the center of digital platform ecosystems
enabling platform-based innovation.2
• Medium to expose unique features to potential
consumers in a controlled, managed manner.
1. D. Jacobson, D. Woods, and G. Brail, APIs: A strategy guide. “ O’Reilly Media, Inc.,” 2011.
2. J. Huhtamäki, R. Basole, K. Still, M. Russell, and M. Seppänen, “Visualizing the geography of platform boundary resources: The case of the global API ecosystem,” 2017.
3. S. Yu and C. J. Woodard, “Innovation in the programmable web: Characterizing the mashup ecosystem,” in International Conference on Service-Oriented Computing, 2008, pp. 136–147.
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• Mashups allow resources and methods to be
“consumed”.
• Three levels of mashup within the industry: [2,3]
API
API
Raw data
Application
logic
Components
Related Work:

7. Digital Platforms and the role of APIs
• Unite the scattered know-how and resources of various firms
and connect users.
• An "editable" and "reprogrammable" architecture of related
standards allowing third-party users [1,2]
• expand functionality
• embed complementary modules
• APIs expose business assets to external consumers and enable
firms to co-create business value beyond organizational
boundaries.
1. M. De Reuver, H. Bouwman, and T. Haaker, “Business model roadmapping: A practical approach to come from an existing to a desired business model,” Int. J. Innov. Manag., vol. 17, no. 01, p. 1340006, 2013.
2. M. de Reuver, C. Sørensen, and R. C. Basole, “The digital platform: a research agenda,” J. Inf. Technol., vol. 33, no. 2, pp. 124–135, 2018.
3. S. Benzell, G. Lagarda, and M. W. Van Alstyne, “The Impact of APIs in Firm Performance,” Bost. Univ. Questrom Sch. Bus. Res. Pap., no. 2843326, 2017.
4. J. Huhtamäki, R. Basole, K. Still, M. Russell, and M. Seppänen, “Visualizing the geography of platform boundary resources: The case of the global API ecosystem,” 2017.
5. G. Parmentier and R. Gandia, “Redesigning the business model: from one-sided to multi-sided,” J. Bus. Strategy, 2017.
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60% of
revenues
Entire business is
empowered by APIs
90% of
revenue
Related Work:
Sales
net income
Market capitalization
onboarding of manifold users
network effects (+/-)
operational costs
• API adaptation supports the design of
multi-sided business models [3,5]

8. Methodology
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9. Empirical case description
1. J. Huhtamäki, M. G. Russell, N. Rubens, and K. Still, “Ostinato: The exploration-automation cycle of user-centric, process-automated data-driven visual network
analytics,” in Transparency in social media, Springer, 2015, pp. 197–222.
2. M. Weiss and G. R. Gangadharan, “Modeling the mashup ecosystem: structure and growth,” R&d Manag., vol. 40, no. 1, pp. 40–49, 2010.
3. P. C. Evans and R. C. Basole, “Economic and business dimensions: Revealing the API ecosystem and enterprise strategy via visual analytics,” Commun. ACM, vol. 59,
no. 2, pp. 26–28, 2016, doi: 10.1145/2856447.
4. R. C. Basole, “Accelerating digital transformation: Visual insights from the API ecosystem,” IT Prof., vol. 18, no. 6, pp. 20–25, 2016.
5. H. Small, “Co-citation in the scientific literature: A new measure of the relationship between two documents,” J. Am. Soc. Inf. Sci., vol. 24, no. 4, pp. 265–269, 1973.
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• Explore and visualize the geolocation of the global API ecosystem
• Data-driven approach and visual network analytics of API co-use1
• Data collection methodologies of Weiss and Gangadharan2, Evans and Basole3, and Basole4
Process
overview
APIs, mashups, and API versions collection
Visualize analytical network based on scientometrics 5 (co-citation analysis)
Locate and visualize geographical proximity of API providers
Methodology:

10. Data and visualization
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Data
• Prgrammable Web repository
• 22,074 APIs
• 22,735 API versions
• 6,438 mashups
• Data processing (13,723 APIs):
• URLs as unique identifier
• Handle URL redirecting services
• Third-party platform account links
• Handle commercial name to data
formal company name
• Locate API providers: Crunchbase
dataset
• ISO 3166-2 country code of API
destinations: Countryinfo package
• Latitude and longitude of API providers:
GeoPy package
• Entrepreneurial regions: Global Startup
Ecosystem 2020 by Startup Genome
Visualization
• Tailor-made Python scripts
• Nodes represent the entrepreneurial
regions
• Node size portrays the regional bridge
score, also known as betweenness
centrality
• Edge thickness corresponds to the total
number of mashups
Figure 1. ProgrammableWeb API growth
Methodology:

11. Analysis and results
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12. Results (1/4)
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Figure 2. Global API locations
• Silicon Valley leading API
provider area (n= 3,181, 51%
growth).
• New York (n=881, 52%
growth), second largest API
provider area.
• London's area (n=683, 40%
growth).
• Washington DC's area moved
from fourth place to third.
• Tampa, Singapore, Stockholm,
and Zurich are emerging key
arenas in the global API
ecosystem.

13. Results (2/4)
• Silicon Valley is the primary API provider in
the global API ecosystem, which attracts and
feeds various regions.
• A significant collaboration between Silicon
Valley as the central source and New York,
London, and Seattle.
• In the previous study, we could barely see any
strong cooperation between Silicon Valley and
New York; currently, after Seattle, New York
has the strongest mashup with Silicon Valley.
• North America hosts the mainstream of
entrepreneurial regions.
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Figure 3. Network of API co-use between entrepreneurial regions

14. Results (3/4)
• Silicon Valley’s contribution focus more on financial APIs and the least on governance APIs. Whereas,
governance APIs are the key sector in Washington DC and Portland.
• In Europe, the entrepreneurial regions of London, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, and Zurich primarily provide
payment APIs.
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Figure 4. Entrepreneurial regions by category.
• In Paris, the enterprise sector holds first
place, followed by tools in second place.
• Berlin and Stockholm, eCommerce APIs
have the first position, and payments the
second.
• The findings do not suggest any patterns
between the representatives of Asia:
Singapore and Tel Aviv.

15. Results (4/4)
• Overall, 44% growth rate of entrepreneurial regions.
• Number of APIs has steadily growth indicating the importance of the phenomenon has not deteriorated and
is still growing
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Figure 5. Global API ecosystem comparison between 2016 and 2021.
• Growth percentages are consistent
overall across the top entrepreneurial
regions.
• Productivity curve is flattening. We expect
to witness a shift toward a more balanced
global distribution of API ecosystems in
future.
• Considerable growth can be seen in the
Amsterdam, Berlin, Copenhagen,
Stockholm, and Zurich regions. This
signifies that Europe is finding its way to
competing in the API ecosystem.

16. Discussion
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17. Discussion
• Co-location of APIs plays an important role in developing young businesses.
• Centralization has not become faster. No evidence that the global API ecosystem
has progressed towards decentralization.
• North America remains the hub of the API ecosystem.
• Content protection and privacy concerns hinder research using public data
collection.
• API provider establishing a network with an ecosystem is useful for underscoring
the importance of interdependencies between different agents in the innovation
process and across the value chain, which simultaneously promotes survival and
success.
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18. Conclusion and further studies
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19. Contributions Recommendations
1. To the scant empirical body of knowledge on
API research by depicting the status of the
global API ecosystem in 2021 and comparing
our findings to the 2016 results.
2. Reproduced the analysis of the global API
ecosystem by solving the structural changes in
ProgrammableWeb regarding anti-crawling and
API versioning.
3. Outcomes advocate further research on API
ecosystem orchestration, design, and
policymaking.
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• API providers innovate in API design, documentation,
and pricing strategy to address API recognition.
• APIs allow firms to attract and connect with more
partners and customers.
• APIs enable companies to:
• gain positive network effects
• spotting emerging trends
• developing new products/services
• creating a digital economy.
• The geographic spatial visualization of API providers
signifies the digital path of innovation in the value chain
of digital products and digital ecosystems.
• API standardize the interfaces between contributors
and reduce the switching costs.

20. Limitations Further research
1. API is competitive intelligence in
many companies, such data is not
publicly available, which limited our
studies to Public Open APIs.
2. Growing number of APIs is boosting
the development of new and young
API directories and marketplaces
such as RapidAPI.
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• Detailed research on the internal API co-use
structure of distinct regions.
• Conducting a study on the potential correlation
between global API locations and venture capital
investments.
• Reveal the global level API ecosystem structure
while maintaining a regional view.
• Research on the global API ecosystem with a
different data set apart from company-provided data
sources.
• Replication and update on firm-level API providers
and their associated API co-use.
• Study of API ecosystem governance with
consideration of the enforcement of GDPR
legislation.

21. Thanks!
Questions or comments?
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To contact the authors, please drop a line or two via email:
saeid.heshmatisafa@tuni.fi
jukka.huhtamaki@tuni.fi
marko.seppanen@tuni.fi