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!

TOTAL PRIZES AVAILABLE: $1000

First Prize: $450 Second Prize: $300 Third Prize: $250

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!