Sa José, CA / Be li , DE, July 13, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The softwa e i dust y has stopped aski g whethe AI ca build softwa e a d sta ted aski g how to build it well. That was the ce t al takeaway of WeA eDevelope s Wo ld Co g ess, the wo ld’s la gest eve t fo develope s, AI builde s a d tech ology leade s, which b ought 15,000 atte dees to CityCube Be li f om July 8-10 to exami e how AI i p oductio is cha gi g the way softwa e is desig ed, built, secu ed a d ope ated.
15.000 Develope s at WeA eDevelope s Wo ld Co g ess 2026
“Last yea , much of the i dust y was still aski g itself what could be built with AI. We saw pilots, p ototypes a d co cepts. This yea , we saw wo ki g p oductio sto ies: eal systems, eal use s, eal failu es, eal umbe s. As a i dust y, we have moved f om aski g whethe we ca do this to aski g how we do it well, secu ely, a d at scale,” said Sead Ahmetović, CEO a d Co-Fou de of WeA eDevelope s.
The co g ess was held u de the pat o age of Ge ma y’s Fede al Mi ist y fo Digital T a sfo matio a d Gove me t Mode isatio . Fede al Mi iste D . Ka ste Wildbe ge joi ed the Mai stage to discuss Eu ope’s digital futu e a d what it will take fo Eu ope to move f om bei g a use of tech ology to becomi g a global shape of it. Alo gside the tech ical p og am, se io tech ology executives a d policymake s came togethe i dedicated executive sessio s o AI i f ast uctu e, digital sove eig ty a d the edesig of e gi ee i g o ga izatio s.
“Whe age ts take ove the w iti g of code, u de sta di g the system becomes the develope ‘s eal job. The value shifts f om typi g li es to defi i g i te t, judgi g output a d desig i g how huma s a d age ts wo k togethe ,” said Thomas Pammi ge , CPO a d Co-Fou de of WeA eDevelope s. “That is cha gi g what compa ies eed f om thei e gi ee s, a d it is why p actitio e s eed a place to sha e what actually wo ks i p oductio . We built WeA eDevelope s fo exactly that.”
Thomas Dohmke, CEO a d Co-Fou de of E ti e a d fo me CEO of GitHub, a gued that the softwa e developme t lifecycle must be ebuilt fo age t-to-age t a d age t-to-huma collabo atio . Ta oo Ma dha a, CTO AI a d Teamwo k at Atlassia , said that alig me t, ot codi g, is becomi g e gi ee i g’s eal bottle eck. NVIDIA CTO Michael Kaga sha ed his pe spective o the i f ast uctu e powe i g mode AI systems a d whe e it is headi g. Amazo CTO We e Vogels eflected o the e gi ee i g cultu e that epeatedly tu s “it ca ‘t be do e” i to p oductio systems used by millio s.
Fu the co t ibuto s i cluded Ma kus Raute t, CTO of adidas; Malte Ubl, CTO of Ve cel; Thomas Saue essig, Membe of the Executive Boa d of SAP; Mili Desai, CEO of Se t y; Uli I ich, CIO Adviso at Salesfo ce; a d Neel Su da esa , Ge e al Ma age Automatio a d AI at IBM, amo g ma y othe se io tech ology leade s.
“We’ e at a defi i g mome t fo softwa e developme t. AI is ‘t simply cha gi g the tools develope s use, it’s eshapi g how softwa e is imagi ed, built, a d b ought to life, a d expa di g who gets to pa ticipate i the p ocess. WeA eDevelope s is a i c edible place to co ect with the global develope commu ity, excha ge ideas, a d lea f om the people avigati g that shift i eal time. The e e gy he e is a powe ful emi de that the futu e of developme t is bei g built ight ow,” said Da a Lawso , CTO, Netlify.
“AI ca make somethi g look fi ished i seco ds. But fi ished-looki g is ot the same as good. C aft is the ability to hea a d feel that gap, to explo e mo e di ectio s, a d still k ow which o e is wo th shippi g. I that se se, taste becomes eve mo e impo ta t. Not just fo the aesthetics, but as a competitive adva tage,” said Lo eda a C isa , Chief Desig Office , Figma.
Google Cloud chose the co g ess to a ou ce the public p eview of Cloud Ru sa dboxes, a secu e u time e vi o me t built fo executi g u t usted code a d AI age t wo kloads.
B ight Data lau ched Sc ape Studio, a AI-powe ed platfo m that tu s plai -E glish p ompts i to p oductio – eady web sc api g APIs. “The p oduct fi ally gives AI age ts eliable a d st uctu ed eal-time i fo matio f om the web: o mo e blocki g, o messy HTML, just clea , co siste t a d compact Ma kdow o JSON output,” said A iel Shulma , CPO, B ight Data.
The 40,000-squa e-mete expo featu ed mo e tha 200 pa t e s showcasi g thei latest p oducts, tools, a d i sights, amo g them NVIDIA, Mic osoft, GitHub, Google Cloud, Amazo Web Se vices, Atlassia , SAP, Salesfo ce, Twilio, Deutsche Ba k, GitLab, Cloudfla e, a d IBM.
“With Be li , Sa Jose a d Be galu u, we a e taki g this co ve satio to th ee co ti e ts. The focus stays the same eve ywhe e: givi g develope s, AI builde s a d tech ology executives a place to excha ge what actually wo ks a d shape the ext phase of softwa e developme t i the age of AI,” said Be jami Ruschi , Executive Chai ma a d Co-Fou de of WeA eDevelope s.
WeA eDevelope s Wo ld Co g ess is the compa y’s flagship eve t a d the wo ld’s la gest gathe i g fo develope s, AI builde s a d tech ology leade s.
Amazo CTO We e Vogels with Thomas Pammi ge , CPO a d Co-fou de of WeA eDevelope s
WeA eDevelope s is the global platfo m fo tech tale ts to adva ce thei ca ee s i the age of AI. Eve y yea , millio s of tech p ofessio als use the platfo m to build skills, sha e k owledge, a d co ect with pee s a d employe s. Compa ies be efit f om access to a u ique commu ity to st e gthe thei employe b a d, att act tale t, a d showcase i ovative p oducts – o li e a d at i dust y-leadi g eve ts i Eu ope, No th Ame ica, a d I dia.
Ch isti a Schai eite p ess [at] wea edevelope s.comhttps://www.wea edevelope s.com/
