FreeCAD for absolute Beginners

In this workshop you can take your first steps in computer aided design for hardware projects. Bring a laptop with FreeCAD installed and we’ll look at basic approaches to get you making mechanical parts in no time.

AI Literacy for Non-Technical Audiences

This two-hour workshop aims to democratize AI knowledge by equipping non-technical audiences with a clear, accessible understanding of how this transformative technology works and why it matters. Starting with the story of how AI emerged, participants will learn how everyday data—sounds, images, and text—are transformed into numbers that feed the models now embedded in nearly every sphere of society, from determining interest rates in banks to curating the content we see on social media. The session will also highlight some of the core ideas of the new EU AI Act, linking technical concepts to the regulatory frameworks that will shape their real-world applications. The session will unpack the basics of how these models function, demystifying the jargon and myths that often cloud public debate. This session may be of special importance to those in policymaking, decision-making, and media, whose influence can shape public opinion and regulation. The guiding principle is simple yet urgent: we cannot shape what we do not understand. By developing AI literacy, we not only strengthen informed decision-making but also reclaim agency in how this general-purpose technology will be steered for collective benefit.

An Introduction to Building cross-platform Games with Flutter & Flame

In this workshop we will build a cross-platform space shooter game with Flutter and the open source game engine Flame. You will learn about sprites, animations, gestures and input, collision detection, effects, the game loop, components, parallaxes and a lot more!

#bevisible - Step into visibility, make meaningful connections, and start growing your career with confidence

This workshop is dedicated to freelancers looking to find work, solopreneurs, and business developers of startups . This workshop is for anyone starting out who wants to be more visible professionally. Feel confident in showing up online and offline. Join a professional community or start your own to meet like-minded people, share ideas, and grow together. LinkedIn tips & tricks. Use simple strategies to get noticed, connect with others, and build your personal brand through writing

Registration - Coffee - Networking

KEYNOTE: Outside the Locked Box, Why Opensource IS innovation.

Using FreeCAD as an example community, Jo will explore why opensource methodologies and approaches are often the only innovative option. During this talk Jo will look at some interesting CAD use cases, from rocketry design, to bioreactors, and other areas showing how closed methods would decrease development rates and engagement.

Introducing Base - Missing Go Framework

Base (base.al) is an open-source web framework written in Go that helps developers build scalable APIs and applications faster. Following the HMSC pattern, it emphasizes modularity, maintainability, and testability, while providing a powerful CLI for code generation and project setup. Out of the box, Base includes authentication, authorization, logging, storage integrations, WebSockets, events, translations, and more, making it a production-ready framework that reduces boilerplate and accelerates development.

LUNCH BREAK

Traceability instead of black boxes: knowledge graphs powering generative AI

The content will be based on the difference between knowledge graphs and generative AI, describing the limitations of GenAI, including hallucinations, lack of transparency, and difficulty in tracing sources, and the strengths of knowledge graphs, including their verifiable, structured, and human-curated data. It will also introduce the Wikidata Vector Database as a tool that enables AI applications to make use of Wikidata’s data, which will help ground generative AI, reduce hallucinations, and support traceability.

The Future of Work due to AI: Clashes of Schools of Thought & Perceptions

This talk addresses one of the most pressing debates of our time: how artificial intelligence will shape the future of work. While much attention has been placed on the quantitative dimension—such as potential rises in unemployment—this discussion moves beyond mere numbers to explore what quality of work means in an age of intelligent machines. What makes a job good or decent, and how might AI shift those benchmarks? Leading economists and thinkers in the field hold divergent views: some warn of widespread displacement and a deterioration of labor conditions, while others emphasize new opportunities, improved productivity, and the redefinition of human roles in work. These perspectives will then be examined through an original survey and qualitative interviews, contrasted with the opinions of young people in Europe, particularly from Italy, Albania, and Kosovo. Understanding the perceptions of these young people—using both interviews and Machine Learning models—is imperative, because ultimately the policies that prevail will not only be grounded in economic theory but also in what societies collectively believe to be most likely, underscoring the central role of perception in shaping political reality.

SHOW & TELL - University Students

Lerdi will talk about Appointly, a platform that streamlines appointment management for businesses and clients through automation, organization, and AI-driven optimization.

Gjergji will show how  RuajMençur, a first Albanian AI financial management app, delivers real-time savings and spending advice via its FinBot Assistant. Built on open-source tech, it offers a smart dashboard and analytics, showing how transparent AI can empower individuals and families to manage finances effectively.

COFFEE BREAK

Building Colanode, an open-source & local-first collaboration workspace

Introducing Colanode, an open-source, local-first alternative to Slack and Notion. This talk explains local-first fundamentals, the challenges we faced building Colanode (offline storage, sync, conflicts, performance), the architectural decisions behind it, and what’s next. Learn more about our mission to make self-hosting easy, with portable data and zero vendor lock-in.

Contextvibes: Opinionated AI-Assisted Solution Development

My career has been a series of adapting to new comfort zones, from legacy stacks to the Google Cloud ecosystem. Now, we all face the next great shift: AI-assisted development. This reminds me of my first digital watch; I only truly understood it after ignoring the manual and experimenting. This "build first, then understand" philosophy is the heart of Contextvibes, an open-source initiative I created to master our new AI frontier. This presentation introduces my solution for moving beyond simple prompting into a structured, effective partnership with AI. Contextvibes is an opinionated ecosystem designed to provide our AI assistants with the deep, actionable context they need to be truly valuable teammates.

Panel Discussion: AI and Open Source - academia vs industry

Is there a better way to conclude a conference than by closing the gap between academia and industry? While universities and companies often pursue different goals, methods, and face distinct constraints in their use of AI, machine learning, and open-source technologies, true progress lies in meaningful partnership. This panel brings together experts from both domains to discuss not just the differences, but also the opportunities for collaboration—addressing ethical, sustainable, and innovative solutions for the future.

Closing SFK Team

Building Intelligent Spring Apps: From REST to Reasoning

This hands-on workshop introduces developers to Spring AI, the new framework for integrating LLMs into Java applications. Participants will learn how to build intelligent APIs, prompt-driven endpoints, and AI agents directly within Spring Boot. • Java 17+, Spring Boot 3.3+ • Maven or Gradle • IDE of choice (IntelliJ IDEA recommend) • OpenAI (or Anthropic) API key • Basic knowledge of Java, REST and dependency injection

Explainable AI Toolkit

In this workshop I will share a step-by-step guide on how to build models, and then break them down to understand their internal mechanism, to be able to integrate them in sensitive pipelines. We will look at different tools that are easy to use as to get an intuitive grasp of how AI does decision-making. Then will apply this in the field of medical data and geospatial data.

KiCAD for Beginners

In this workshop we will go through the basics of designing a simple printed circuit board and getting it to the point where it could be submitted to a fabrication company. We’ll also briefly look at the topic of PCBA where you can add details for your components and component placement to enable fabrication and assembly of complete circuit products.