🚀 Build with Gemma: GDG Faro AI Hackathon!

Welcome to the Build with Gemma Hackathon!

We are empowering developers to build the next generation of AI applications using Google DeepMind's open Gemma models. Gemma is a family of lightweight, state-of-the-art open AI models built by Google, meaning you can run powerful artificial intelligence right on your own laptop or local servers. Instead of a traditional data science competition where everyone chases the highest accuracy on a single dataset, a Kaggle Hackathon invites attendees to build diverse, creative apps, multimodal tools, or agentic systems using Gemma. Whether you want to solve a local community problem or just experiment with cutting-edge tech, this fast-paced sprint will help you turn your idea into reality!

Who Should Attend

The GDG Faro community is a safe, welcoming space for learning and networking. This event is explicitly open to everyone:

Curious Beginners: No AI experience? No problem! Come discover how generative AI works in the real world and team up with others to learn. Explore AI Studio, Antigravity and learn by building.

Seasoned Developers: Flex your coding muscles and build advanced projects like local AI agents or vision-to-text tools.

Designers & Product Thinkers: AI needs brilliant user experiences and practical applications—your perspective is highly valued here!

Agenda / What to Expect

09:00 AM – Welcome, Breakfast & Team Formation: Grab some food, meet your fellow GDG Faro members, and start brainstorming ideas!

09:30 AM – Tech Talk: Intro to Gemma Models: We'll demystify what Gemma is and how to use it. Participants can access Gemma models directly through Hugging Face, Kaggle Models, via the Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform, or by downloading them via Hugging Face/Keras for local or Kaggle Notebook inference.

10:00 AM – Hackathon Kicks Off!: Start building! You can choose to hack on specific themes like the Multimodal Track for vision-to-text use cases , the GenAI for Good Track , or the Autonomous Agent Track.

12:30 PM – Lunch & Networking: Take a break, share your progress, and connect with other tech enthusiasts.

01:30 PM – Hacking Continues: Finalize your prototypes and prepare your technical Kaggle Writeups detailing your project architecture and how Gemma was used.

04:15 PM – Live Demos & Judging: Time to present! Share your live demo so judges can experience your project firsthand.

05:00 PM – Awards & Closing: We'll celebrate the winners, wrap up an amazing day of building, and take a group photo!

The Details

📍 Place: UALG TEC Campus, Polo da Penha, Faro

📅 Date: Saturday, July 18, 2026

⏰ Time: 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM (WEST)

Call to Action

Ready to build something amazing? RSVP right now to secure your spot, bring your laptop, and let's shape the future of AI together right here in Faro. We can't wait to see what you create!

Agenda

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Hosted By

Daniel Jorge, GDG Organizer

I’ve always been passionate about overcoming challenges. Building products is exciting, but what really drives me is tackling real-world problems head-on. Whether diving into mobile development or working in backend, every step has been about finding the right solutions and pushing myself to grow.

As my career evolved, I took on the challenge of leading teams, using the same problem-solving mindset I’ve always had. Now, as Tech Director at Dengun, I lead the product builders tech team, guiding others to overcome challenges and build great products. It’s been an incredibly rewarding journey, filled with constant learning and growth along the way.

Alongside my technical work, being part of the community has been a huge part of my growth. I’ve been fortunate to help organize events with Flutter Portugal, co-organize GDG Faro, and co-create Flutter Faro. These communities have been a source of inspiration and learning, as we work together to push the boundaries of what we can build.

Tiago Fernandes, Founder / GDG Organizer

👋 Hey there! I'm a Software Engineer, Fractional CTO, Founder based in sunny Portimão, Algarve, Portugal.

I'm passionate about:

🚀 Entrepreneurship & product development
🛠️ Software craftsmanship as a service
💎 Ruby/Rails, AI,📱 Flutter & open source

Beyond code, I love all things tech, drone photography and sports.

Sérgio Henriques, Dev

Software Engineer with Web Development background. Senior in Data Structures, Databases, RESTful APIs, Back-End Applications, PHP, Javascript, MVC frameworks (CakePHP and Laravel). Currently learning DevOps, DevOps applications, Container Management Systems and Flutter.

Past Professional Experience: Back-end Assistant Developer, Database Design and Administration (MySQL, SQLite, MS-SQL Server), Infrastructure as Code (Crons, log automations, monitoring report automations), Core & E2E testing in hotel business applications.

Artificial Intelligence (Decision making systems) and Interface between AI and robot behaviors.

Specialities: Web APIs, Financial Data, Database design, development and optimization and soon... DevOps :D.

João Cardoso,

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Partners

Algarve Evolution (https://algarveevolution.pt/)

Algarve STP (https://algarvestp.pt/)

UALG TEC CAMPUS (https://www.linkedin.com/company/ualg-tec-campus)

Google (https://www.linkedin.com/company/google/)

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Complete your event RSVP here: https://gdg.community.dev/events/details/google-gdg-faro-presents-build-with-gemma-gdg-faro-ai-hackathon/.