Amadeus opens systems to kick-start innovation-driven ecosystem
Relationship building with startups and developers
The portal for developers has been open since November 2018, and is now being used by several thousand users. As customers of the self-service APIs grow, the plan is to move them over to the enterprise section.
“It’s also a way for us to channel these small and growing customers into our traditional customer base as and when they grow,” said Mesnage. “We expect a lot of new ideas and concepts will come from this segment.”
However, publishing well-structured APIs for open use is just one of the ways Amadeus is attempting to build a collaborative ecosystem.
Five years ago, the firm launched Amadeus Ventures, a funding program for making investments in early stage startups relevant for the travel industry.
Since then. the programme has invested in 14 startups, including Barcelona-based geolocation startup Avuxi, which partnered with Amadeus to create the Points of Interest API – the first third-party API to be published on the developer’s platform.
The API allows developers to access a trove of previously unavailable data on neighbourhoods, tourist attractions and restaurants so that they can build their own products and solutions with it.
However, Amadeus is highly selective about which startups to invest in, having screened more than 2,500 since the programme began.
“Investment is only one way we partner and connect with startups,” said Mesnage. “We also have a programme called Explore where we have a portfolio of around 30 startups that we select because we feel they bring something new or unique based on the screening.”
These partnerships do not involve investment, but allow Amadeus to jointly explore new technological solutions to travel problems in collaboration with others.
“It is very important for us is to jointly explore some use cases and collaborate with the startups,” said Suzanna Chiu, head of Amadeus Ventures’ corporate strategy.
“It can take the form of solution synergies where we work together, and they can build on top of our technology, or we can introduce them to our customers.”
In terms of securing investment, startups need to be at an early stage, have a minimum viable product that is scalable in a global context, and be team-orientated.
“The team is the most important thing in a startup. You can have an excellent idea, but if you can’t execute it then it remains an idea – so the team is always central to our startup investments,” said Chiu.
According to Amadeus spokespeople, the company is on track to spend more than €1bn on R&D in 2019, and plans to announce further startup investments before the end of the year.