{
  "events": [
    {
      "id": "plug-and-play-tirana-expo-2026",
      "title": "Plug and Play Tirana Expo 2026",
      "date": "2026-10-07",
      "endDate": "2026-10-08",
      "start": "10:00",
      "end": "20:00",
      "venue": "Innovation Hub, Pyramid of Tirana",
      "address": "Bulevardi Dëshmorët e Kombit 5",
      "url": "https://tiranaexpo.com/",
      "kind": "expo",
      "topics": [
        "startups",
        "AI",
        "SaaS",
        "investors"
      ],
      "price": "Free",
      "summary": "Grand finale of the second Plug and Play Tirana Accelerator cohort: 22 startups pitch and demo, 30+ international speakers on two stages, an expo hall, investor 1:1s and networking.",
      "rec": {
        "verdict": "skip",
        "why": "The parts worth your time were this morning: Microsoft's Chief AI Architect Fatos Ismaili and the AI-in-the-enterprise panel. What's left today is ecosystem panels, an investment keynote and the closing ceremony. The 22 pitching startups are applied AI (sales assistants, drone inspection), with no dev tools or agent infrastructure.",
        "tips": [
          "Next year, go on the first morning for the AI talks and skip the investor track."
        ]
      },
      "attend": {
        "how": "ticket",
        "label": "Free ticket on Eventbrite",
        "url": "https://www.eventbrite.com/checkout-external?eid=1990323602473",
        "deadline": "2026-10-08",
        "note": "Opens Eventbrite checkout directly. Ticket sales end 18:00 on the last day."
      },
      "fit": 3,
      "verified": "2026-10-08"
    },
    {
      "id": "game-jam-albania-4",
      "title": "Game Jam Albania 4.0",
      "date": "2026-10-16",
      "endDate": "2026-10-19",
      "start": "17:00",
      "end": "21:00",
      "venue": "Coolab",
      "address": "Rruga e Dibrës 65",
      "url": "https://www.gamejam.al/",
      "kind": "hackathon",
      "topics": [
        "games",
        "gamedev"
      ],
      "price": "Free",
      "summary": "48-hour game jam by the Albanian Gaming Community. The theme is revealed at Friday's 18:00 opening; building runs Fri 20:00 → Sun 20:00 and games are submitted on itch.io. 185 registered, in-person capped at 120, plus an online track. Mon 19 Oct is public: playtesting 13:00–17:00, then a keynote by Unity's Mike Geig, awards (18:00–20:00) and networking.",
      "rec": {
        "verdict": "go",
        "why": "The biggest builder crowd of the month: last year 150+ people shipped 27 games in a weekend. In-person seats are gone, but there's an online track and Monday is open to the public.",
        "tips": [
          "Check whether the online track still takes sign-ups (\"same challenge, same mentors, same judging\"). A 48-hour jam with Claude Code as your teammate is a great stress test.",
          "Monday 13:00–17:00: play the games and ask teams which AI tools actually helped. Stay for Mike Geig's keynote and the 20:00 networking.",
          "Saturday's Grok/Cursor workshop at 12:00 runs inside the jam (separate entry)."
        ]
      },
      "attend": {
        "how": "walk-in",
        "label": "Monday is public: just show up",
        "note": "In-person jam seats are full (waitlist only). The organisers call Monday's playtesting (13:00–17:00) and awards public, and mention no registration.",
        "alt": {
          "label": "Try the online track",
          "url": "https://www.gamejam.al/"
        }
      },
      "fit": 5,
      "verified": "2026-10-08"
    },
    {
      "id": "cursor-grok-workshop-2026-10-17",
      "title": "Grok Bot Workshop: Build Your AI Team",
      "date": "2026-10-17",
      "start": "12:00",
      "end": "13:30",
      "venue": "Coolab",
      "address": "Rruga e Dibrës 65",
      "url": "https://luma.com/spacexai-kpc5",
      "links": [
        {
          "label": "Community",
          "url": "https://luma.com/spacexai-tirana"
        }
      ],
      "kind": "workshop",
      "topics": [
        "AI agents",
        "Cursor",
        "Grok"
      ],
      "price": "Free, plus $30 in Cursor credits",
      "summary": "Hands-on session by Dorian Kane (Tirana Cursor/SpaceXAI community). A bot writes a game design doc, a Cursor cloud agent builds a Phaser/Three.js prototype and deploys it to Vercel, and parallel agents work on separate branches. Runs inside Game Jam Albania 4.0 but is open to anyone. 35 registered, 100 places. Bring a laptop.",
      "rec": {
        "verdict": "go",
        "why": "The demo is probably familiar territory if you live in Claude Code. Go for the people: Dorian Kane runs Tirana's AI-coding meetups (88–133 sign-ups each this year), and this is the easiest way in. It also gets you onto the Game Jam floor on its busiest day.",
        "tips": [
          "Register on Luma. Check-in is what gets you the $30 in Cursor credits.",
          "Afterwards, walk the jam floor and ask teams what their agent setups are.",
          "Subscribe to the Cursor/SpaceXAI Tirana Luma calendar while you are there."
        ]
      },
      "attend": {
        "how": "rsvp",
        "label": "RSVP on Luma",
        "url": "https://luma.com/spacexai-kpc5",
        "note": "Free, about 65 places left. One click if you're signed in to Luma. Bring a laptop; check-in gets you the Cursor credits."
      },
      "fit": 5,
      "verified": "2026-10-08"
    },
    {
      "id": "n8n-tirana-meetup-2026-10",
      "title": "n8n Tirana Meetup – Workflow Automation",
      "date": "2026-10-22",
      "start": "18:30",
      "end": "21:30",
      "venue": "Dua Space",
      "address": "Rruga Naim Frashëri",
      "url": "https://luma.com/n8n-ss64",
      "kind": "meetup",
      "topics": [
        "automation",
        "AI",
        "n8n"
      ],
      "price": "Free",
      "summary": "The first n8n meetup in Albania (70 registered), hosted by Dorian Kane. 19:15: Bastian Saß, AI automation talk and demo. 20:00: Nertil Zhuri, \"AI Search with n8n\" plus an hour-long hands-on session. 21:30: close, then networking.",
      "rec": {
        "verdict": "must",
        "why": "Small, free and built for builders: one demo talk, then a long hands-on session on AI search. The page explicitly invites people to bring a laptop and demo something. It's the best room this month for comparing notes on agent workflows.",
        "tips": [
          "Bring a laptop with a hobby app ready to show in two minutes. There is no formal lightning slot, but demos are welcome.",
          "Come with an opinion on n8n vs. code-first agents (Claude Code, Agent SDK). That is the obvious conversation in that room.",
          "Say hi to Dorian Kane. He runs Tirana's Cursor and Grok Bot meetups, which is the fastest way into the local AI-builder scene."
        ]
      },
      "attend": {
        "how": "rsvp",
        "label": "RSVP on Luma",
        "url": "https://luma.com/n8n-ss64",
        "note": "Free, no approval needed. One click if you're signed in to Luma."
      },
      "fit": 5,
      "verified": "2026-10-08"
    },
    {
      "id": "bsides-tirana-2026",
      "title": "BSides Tirana 2026",
      "date": "2026-10-23",
      "start": "09:00",
      "end": "17:00",
      "venue": "Innovation Hub, Pyramid of Tirana",
      "address": "Bulevardi Dëshmorët e Kombit 5",
      "url": "https://bsidestirana.al/",
      "kind": "conference",
      "topics": [
        "security",
        "pentesting",
        "workshops"
      ],
      "price": "Free (or €25 with swag)",
      "summary": "5th edition of the community-run Security BSides, with 200+ expected: keynotes, technical talks and hands-on workshops on network, mobile and web security, vulnerability research, pentesting and forensics. Announced speakers include Leonidas Tsaousis (Reversec), Paul Nieto (0x3 Security) and Armend Gashi (Sentry). The schedule isn't published yet. Doors open 08:30.",
      "rec": {
        "verdict": "must",
        "why": "The best technical day of the autumn, and free. If you ship agent apps, this is the room that knows how they break. Armend Gashi red-teams AI systems (including on Anthropic's external red team) and builds multi-agent code-auditing tools; last year he showed here how to hijack AI agents with special-token injection, a talk he also gave at DEF CON 33.",
        "tips": [
          "Get the free General Admission ticket on Eventbrite now. It covers every talk; the €25 tier only adds swag.",
          "The schedule is not out yet. Check bsidestirana.al the week before and plan around any AI or agent security talk.",
          "Look up \"Hijacking AI Agents with Special Token Injection\" beforehand. It is a good opener with Gashi."
        ]
      },
      "attend": {
        "how": "ticket",
        "label": "Get a free ticket",
        "url": "https://www.eventbrite.com/checkout-external?eid=1998421417255",
        "note": "Opens Eventbrite checkout directly. Pick \"General Admission\" (free, every talk); the €25 tier only adds swag. Refunds up to 7 days before."
      },
      "fit": 5,
      "verified": "2026-10-08"
    },
    {
      "id": "luarasi-cyber-security-ai-2026",
      "title": "Int’l Conference on Cyber Security & AI",
      "date": "2026-11-02",
      "endDate": "2026-11-03",
      "start": "11:00",
      "end": "14:40",
      "venue": "Salla Luarasi, Luarasi University",
      "address": "Rruga e Elbasanit 59",
      "url": "https://indico.cern.ch/event/1675321/overview",
      "kind": "academic",
      "topics": [
        "security",
        "machine learning",
        "AI"
      ],
      "price": "Free",
      "summary": "First edition of this academic conference, in person or online. Day 1 covers neural-network and ML techniques for AI; day 2 covers ML for cyber security, closing with a round table.",
      "rec": {
        "verdict": "skip",
        "why": "There's no way to just listen: registration needs an abstract and a paper, needs organiser approval, and is capped (12 of 20 places taken). No talks are published yet, and the session titles are generic “NN & ML techniques” with nothing on LLMs or agents."
      },
      "attend": {
        "how": "submit",
        "label": "Register with an abstract",
        "url": "https://indico.cern.ch/event/1675321/registrations/128248/",
        "deadline": "2026-10-10",
        "note": "Needs an Indico account, an abstract, a paper (max 6 pages) and organiser approval. 12 of 20 places taken."
      },
      "fit": 2,
      "verified": "2026-10-08"
    },
    {
      "id": "allweb-2026",
      "title": "AllWeb 2026",
      "date": "2026-11-06",
      "venue": "Namazgah Mosque complex",
      "url": "https://allweb.digital/",
      "kind": "conference",
      "topics": [
        "AI",
        "digital business",
        "marketing",
        "data"
      ],
      "price": "€169 + VAT",
      "summary": "One-day digital-business conference with Business Magazine Albania, now in its 9th Tirana edition: AI in business strategy and marketing, data and analytics, and customer experience. Announced speakers include ex-Google business-unit lead Todd Rowe, reel8's Péter Szántó and Pikasa CEO Norik Selimi. The venue is near the Namazgah Mosque.",
      "rec": {
        "verdict": "skip",
        "why": "€169 for a marketing conference. Last year's programme was GenAI for content, SEO and PR, and this year's speakers are mostly marketers and brand strategists. The only hands-on builder listed is Boban Ilik (AI marketing workflows). There's no cheaper or student pass.",
        "tips": [
          "The one reason to go: if a hobby app targets marketers or agencies, this is where those buyers are. The hour-long lunch is the networking window."
        ]
      },
      "attend": {
        "how": "ticket",
        "label": "Buy a ticket (€169 + VAT)",
        "url": "https://allweb.digital/tickets/",
        "note": "Only the regular ticket is on sale. There is a promo-code field at checkout."
      },
      "fit": 2,
      "verified": "2026-10-08"
    },
    {
      "id": "tbu-technology-business-update-2026",
      "title": "Technology & Business Update 2026",
      "date": "2026-11-20",
      "venue": "Tirana Business University",
      "address": "Rruga “Rezervat e Shtetit”, Lundër",
      "url": "https://tbu.edu.al/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Broshura-e-konferences-2026-ok2.pdf",
      "links": [
        {
          "label": "TBU research",
          "url": "https://tbu.edu.al/en/scientific-research/"
        }
      ],
      "kind": "academic",
      "topics": [
        "AI",
        "cybersecurity",
        "e-government",
        "cloud"
      ],
      "summary": "3rd annual academic conference by TBU and partner universities, with Business & Law and Information Technology panels (AI, automation, cybersecurity, e-government, big data and cloud). In English, in person or over Zoom.",
      "rec": {
        "verdict": "skip",
        "why": "Peer-reviewed paper sessions of 5–15 minutes each. The 2025 edition was 41 papers on AI and business, mostly applied studies like ChatGPT in education. There's no listener registration, so go only if you want to present."
      },
      "attend": {
        "how": "submit",
        "label": "Email an abstract",
        "url": "mailto:tbuconference@tbu.edu.al?subject=Abstract%20submission%20%E2%80%93%20Technology%20%26%20Business%20Update%202026",
        "deadline": "2026-10-16",
        "note": "Max 250 words, in English. There is no listener registration."
      },
      "fit": 1,
      "verified": "2026-10-08"
    },
    {
      "id": "devfest-albania-2026",
      "title": "DevFest Albania 2026",
      "date": "2026-11-21",
      "start": "10:00",
      "end": "16:30",
      "venue": "Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Tirana",
      "url": "https://gdg.community.dev/events/details/google-gdg-tirana-presents-devfest-albania-2026/",
      "kind": "conference",
      "topics": [
        "AI agents",
        "Gemini",
        "web",
        "mobile",
        "cloud"
      ],
      "price": "Free (RSVP)",
      "summary": "GDG Tirana's yearly developer conference: talks, hands-on sessions and live demos on AI agents, Gemini and Gemma, Google Cloud, Android, Flutter, Angular, Firebase and the web. Speakers not announced yet.",
      "rec": {
        "verdict": "must",
        "why": "The biggest free developer conference of the season, and it's explicitly about AI agents. Even if the talks lean Google, the room will be full of people who ship.",
        "tips": [
          "RSVP on the GDG page now (35 so far). It gets you the speaker announcements.",
          "Ask the organisers about lightning talks. A \"hobby apps built with Claude Code\" demo would stand out at a Gemini-heavy event."
        ]
      },
      "attend": {
        "how": "rsvp",
        "label": "RSVP on GDG",
        "url": "https://gdg.community.dev/events/details/google-gdg-tirana-presents-devfest-albania-2026/",
        "note": "Free. RSVP needs a free GDG community login."
      },
      "fit": 5,
      "verified": "2026-10-08"
    },
    {
      "id": "icebit-2026",
      "title": "ICEBIT 2026",
      "date": "2026-12-04",
      "endDate": "2026-12-05",
      "start": "16:00",
      "venue": "Rogner Hotel Tirana",
      "address": "Bulevardi Dëshmorët e Kombit",
      "url": "https://feut.edu.al/lajmerime/3272-international-conference-on-economy-business-innovation-and-technology-icebit-2026-advancing-intelligent-economies-through-ai-digital-transformation-and-sustainable-innovation",
      "kind": "academic",
      "topics": [
        "generative AI",
        "analytics",
        "economics"
      ],
      "price": "Author fee €30–50",
      "summary": "The Faculty of Economy's (University of Tirana) conference on \"Advancing Intelligent Economies through AI, Digital Transformation and Sustainable Innovation\". Tracks cover generative AI and LLMs, big data, BI and cybersecurity. Abstracts due 11 Oct.",
      "rec": {
        "verdict": "skip",
        "why": "Economists presenting papers about AI, not engineers building with it."
      },
      "attend": {
        "how": "submit",
        "label": "Call for papers",
        "url": "https://feut.edu.al/lajmerime/3272-international-conference-on-economy-business-innovation-and-technology-icebit-2026-advancing-intelligent-economies-through-ai-digital-transformation-and-sustainable-innovation",
        "deadline": "2026-10-11",
        "note": "Author fee €30–50.",
        "alt": {
          "label": "Eventbrite listing",
          "url": "https://www.eventbrite.com/e/icebit-2026-tickets-2001631461584"
        }
      },
      "fit": 1,
      "verified": "2026-10-08"
    },
    {
      "id": "ut-ic-sight-2026",
      "title": "UT IC-SIGHT 2026",
      "date": "2026-12-17",
      "endDate": "2026-12-18",
      "venue": "University of Tirana",
      "url": "https://icsight.unitir.edu.al/",
      "kind": "academic",
      "topics": [
        "AI",
        "digital science",
        "research"
      ],
      "price": "Free",
      "summary": "University of Tirana’s multidisciplinary conference “Rethinking Education, Science and Society for Tomorrow”: 15 tracks, including digital science, AI and emerging tech. Hybrid, in English and Albanian.",
      "rec": {
        "verdict": "skip",
        "why": "Only 3 of 15 tracks touch tech, and those are about AI governance and AI in society, not building. Keynotes TBA, and “register your attendance” opens the abstract form, so there's no listener-only route."
      },
      "attend": {
        "how": "submit",
        "label": "Submit an abstract",
        "url": "https://forms.unitir.edu.al/f/ic-sight-2026",
        "deadline": "2026-10-12",
        "note": "Free. \"Register your attendance\" opens this same abstract form; there is no listener-only route."
      },
      "fit": 1,
      "verified": "2026-10-08"
    },
    {
      "id": "aina-2027",
      "title": "AINA-2027",
      "date": "2027-03-24",
      "endDate": "2027-03-26",
      "venue": "Polytechnic University of Tirana",
      "address": "Sheshi “Nënë Tereza” 4",
      "url": "https://voyager.ce.fit.ac.jp/conf/aina/2027/",
      "kind": "academic",
      "topics": [
        "networking",
        "distributed systems",
        "cloud",
        "edge"
      ],
      "price": "From $600",
      "summary": "41st International Conference on Advanced Information Networking and Applications: a long-running, Springer-published academic conference on networks, distributed computing and information systems, co-organised by UPT and the Fukuoka Institute of Technology. Papers due 25 Nov.",
      "rec": {
        "verdict": "skip",
        "why": "A serious research conference, but $600 to sit in academic networking sessions isn't worth it unless you're publishing."
      },
      "attend": {
        "how": "ticket",
        "label": "Register (from $600)",
        "url": "https://voyager.ce.fit.ac.jp/conf/aina/2027/",
        "note": "Non-authors can register: USD 600 early, 650 late. Papers are due 25 Nov."
      },
      "fit": 1,
      "verified": "2026-10-08"
    }
  ]
}