DevFest 2026 Malta

Welcome to DevFest 2026 in partnership with DiHub MT! 🚀 #DevFest26 #GDGMalta

AI is redefining how we build, deploy, and think about software. Whether you're integrating multimodal models, deploying on-device intelligence, or scaling cloud pipelines, DevFest 2026 brings Malta’s tech community together to turn generative breakthroughs into production reality.

Join us for a high-impact day of technical sessions, live demos, networking, great food, and drinks.

This year’s agenda zeroes in on building in the age of AI:

Generative & Agentic AI: Gemini APIs, LLM architectures, and agentic workflows

On-Device & Mobile AI: Running edge models, Android, and Web integration

Modern Web & Cloud: Cloud infrastructure, vector search, and scalable backends

Next-Gen Dev Tools: Google AI Studio, Vertex AI, and modern developer tooling

Community & Open Source: Hands-on collaboration with fellow engineers

Tickets are 100% free, but seats are limited.

👉 Grab your free pass and build what’s next!

Agenda

10:00 AM: Registration

Some time to get registered and have a quick chat.

10:30 AM: Welcome Address

Welcome Address, presenting the agenda for the day and a quick intro of the hosts.

10:50 AM: Swarms, Civilizations and Games. Seeing how agents behave when they can talk to each other with the A2A protocol

What happens when Agents work together autonomously?

This talk will explore the emergent behaviour when multiple Agents try to solve a problem together instead of separately.

Talk by Simon Agius Muscat

12:15 PM: Building Real-Time Conversational AI: Lessons from the Gemini Live API

In this session, we will explore the value of the Gemini Live API by walking through the journey of building robust conversational AI. Drawing from my experience developing deutschexam.ai—a real-time spoken language exam preparation tool—I will share the practical learnings and hidden challenges of moving from prototype to a live product.

Talk by Balram Morsing Chavan

12:45 PM: Lunch Break

A quick networking break, with refreshments.

1:30 PM: I Put Android in Charge of My Fish Tank (What Could Go Wrong?)

Keeping fish alive is stressful, but what if Android handled the life support?

This session dives into a smart aquarium that collects sensor data, manages climate control, identifies fish via computer vision, and evaluates water toxicity using an on-device LLM, all driven by a native Android app.

Talk by James Gatt

2:15 PM: Kubernetes Operators for AI Agents: Orchestrating LLMs Like We Orchestrate Pods

AI agents in production have a problem the Kubernetes world already solved years ago: lifecycle management, isolation, retries, resource limits, and observability for long-running, non-deterministic processes. Most teams are reinventing all of this from scratch in loose Python scripts.

In this talk, I'll show how to apply the Operator pattern (controller + CRD) to treat "AI agent runs" as first-class citizens in the cluster, with an AgentRun CRD that defines the model, allowed tools (via MCP), token/cost budgets, and timeouts, reconciled by a Go controller that spins up an isolated Job, applies sandboxing, collects cost and tracing metrics, and automatically decides whether to retry or fall back to another model when the agent fails or "hallucinates" past a threshold.

Talk by Otavio Celestino dos Santos

3:00 PM: Building a Better AI: Practical Steps Towards Responsibility and Ethics

Moving beyond theoretical discussions, this talk focuses on the practical steps and frameworks necessary to build responsible AI. We will explore actionable strategies for addressing bias, promoting fairness, ensuring transparency, and ultimately prioritizing people and ethical considerations in the creation and deployment of data-driven technologies.

Talk by Dr Roushanak Rahmat

3:45 PM: Total Buzzkill: How We Engineered and Trained a Bee-Saving Machine

Oriental hornets (Vespa orientalis) are devastating Malta’s beehives, not just by snatching foragers off the landing board, but by terrifying colonies into foraging paralysis. What if three developers used today’s off-the-shelf AI and maker workflows to design a defence system from scratch?
In this talk, we will walk through how they built HornePocalypse: a simulated two-axis gel-blaster turret designed to take out hawking hornets without harming a single bee.

Talk by Joseph Trapani, James Gatt & Peter Pullicino

4:45 PM: Closure

End of DevFest 2026 Malta.

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Speakers

Balram Chavan

An architect with 13+ years of industry experience in designing, architecting and building scalable and secure solutions for Pharmaceutical, Finance, Accounting, Automation and Automobile domains using Microsoft .NET, Node.js, Python, JavaScript, Typescript, Angular, Ionic, AWS, Azure, GCP and DevOps tools.
Written a book on Angular framework. Great team player, effective communicator, q…

James Gatt - University of Malta (Student)

James Gatt is an AOSP Engineer based in Malta, currently pursuing an MSc in Microelectronics and Microsystems. He is the founder of the PixelBuilds custom ROM distribution and has recently expanded his expertise into Android app development using Kotlin and Jetpack Compose. With a BSc in Computer Engineering from the University of Malta, James also specializes in Embedded systems and practical…

Joseph Trapani

Here is a little bit about me. I like getting my hands dirty with anything I don`t quite yet understand. I learn by doing and reading and I love learning, so I read and do a lot. I am interested in applied technology, the stuff that solves problems and makes me dream up new ones. An engineer by profession, I am self thought in programming and can make a mean bowl of Ramen. Feel free to get in …

Otávio Celestino Dos Santos - N26 (Senior Site Reliability Engineer)

Otavio Celestino is a Senior SRE at N26 and a Google Developer Expert in Go. He is the creator of HunCoding, a YouTube channel and blog where he shares practical content on GoLang and software engineering, helping developers learn by building real things.

Dr. Roushanak Rahmat - IBM (Lead Data Scientist)

Roushanak is a renowned expert in AI and data science, with a strong focus on deep learning applications. She has a diverse background, having worked in both academia and industry, and has been recognised as a Google Cloud Innovator Champion. Currently, she is a data scientist lead at IBM, London.
With a PhD in AI, computer vision, and medical imaging from Heriot-Watt University, Roushan…

Peter Pullicino - Stargate Studios Malta (Cinematographer & Photographer)

Simon Agius Muscat

Particularly interested in scaling products and teams, DevEx, and AI.
Technologies I use include Python, Typescript, React, NodeJS, Go, Flutter, Dart, MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Docker, GCP, AWS, Jenkins, Jira, Kubernetes, Terraform, Ansible and more.

Hosted By

James Gatt, Administrator

AOSP Enthusiast
Recognized Developer on XDA Developers
Experienced with both AOSP and Device Engineering

Matthias Bartolo, Logistics

Matthias Bartolo (Graduate Student Member, IEEE) received the B.Sc. IT (Hons.) in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Malta in 2024, graduating with First Class Honours and ranking first in his cohort. He subsequently completed an M.Sc. in ICT by Research at the University of Malta in 2025. His principal research interests lie in computer vision, applied machine learning, and in exploring how AI may be harnessed to support and empower individuals. He has gained considerable experience working on real-world projects involving complex datasets, developing practical solutions in contexts where the way forward was not immediately apparent. In this regard, he upholds a strong commitment to integrity and embraces the ideal of being “a man for others,” striving to use his abilities in service of the greater good.
Matthias is actively involved in multiple projects that bridge research and application, advancing computer vision and applied machine learning techniques while contributing to several peer-reviewed publications. He was selected as a member of the Google Developers Group in Malta, where he contributes to various projects and initiatives within the group and the university. Beyond his academic and technical work, he also forms part of several voluntary organisations, further reflecting his commitment to service and community engagement. In 2024, he was honoured with the Dean’s List Award by the Faculty of ICT in recognition of his outstanding academic achievements, and was robed by the Rector during the graduation ceremony as the top student of his cohort.

Joseph Grech, Hospitality

Matthew Mangion, Designer

Andrea Filiberto Lucas, Marketing

I am a Research Support Officer I within the Department of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Malta and a Master of Science student specialising in AI. My work focuses on applied computer vision, intelligent systems, and dataset-driven research. I contribute to active research projects within the Faculty of ICT, with responsibilities ranging from model development and evaluation to data processing, automation, and system integration.

I am particularly interested in bridging academic research with real-world applications through practical AI solutions and collaborative development.

Jonathan Attard, Treasurer

Gabriel Hili, Community Engagement

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Partners

DiHubMT (https://dihubmt.eu/)
Digital Entrepreneurship Support Services to facilitate digital and green transformation with a focus on existing local competencies in the area, namely, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Cybersecurity and High-Performance Computing (HPC).

Bolt (https://bolt.eu/en/cities/malta)

Country Terrace (https://www.country-terrace.com)

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Complete your event RSVP here: https://gdg.community.dev/events/details/google-gdg-malta-presents-devfest-2026-malta/.