Mindanao Summit Blog

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗜 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗮𝘃𝗮𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘀 𝗜𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗮𝗻'𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵 🚐 The DEVCON AI Angat Caravan arrives in Iligan for the second half of the journey, hosted by our local DEVCON Iligan chapter. Tabunan is a GIDA, a geographically isolated and disadvantaged area, in Iligan's North 1 District. Schools here have a smart TV, one teacher gets a laptop, and for some kids, this was their first time holding a tablet at all. There is no mobile signal in the area at all, so three Starlink Minis had to be brought in just to get everyone online. The day ran on three classes. Teachers from Tabunan, Pedro, and San Antonio sat down with Pam Ros Damarillo for an Hour of AI, learning to teach responsibly even offline with code.org's tools. Kids built a flood barrier with two micro:bits working together, one sensing rising water and signaling the other by radio to sound an alarm. And in game development, kids learned to think in AI terms first, before touching a single tool. None of it happened alone: DICT brought the Starlink connectivity, NMBLR and the Office of Councilor Siao covered meals, and Sui and Monheim Industries backed the next generation of builders, capped off with a community lunch of tinolang native manok, puso, marang, grilled bangus, and buko juice. What stayed with us most was the school's own reaction. Its leaders shared that this was the first tech program to ever come to them, instead of their teachers having to travel into the city just to get trained. Seeing their students this empowered was inspiring to witness. Iligan leg is underway. Tomorrow, the caravan heads to MSU-IIT for NEXUS. 👉 Follow DEVCON Iligan: https://www.facebook.com/devconiligan 👉 Follow DEVCON Kids: https://www.facebook.com/DEVCONKids 👉 Register at devcon.plus: https://devcon.plus/ #DEVCONPH #DEVCONKids #DEVCONIligan #MindanaoCaravan #AralNgayonAITrabahoBukas

𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝟮, 𝗠𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗼! 🚀 The DEVCON AI Angat Caravan rolled into Central Mindanao University for a first for Mindanao, a full day of NEXUS AI Fluency Masterclass and Hackathon built for the next generation of IT professionals. NMBLR and DEVCON brought 3rd and 4th year IT students hands-on into a full masterclass and hackathon, powered by real agentic AI tooling, hosted and coordinated by our local DEVCON Bukidnon chapter. DEVCON Founder Winston Damarillo grounded the room in why AI fluency isn't optional anymore, and what it actually takes to build with it, not just talk about it. Backed by DOST Region 10 and the DICT Undersecretary for Strategic Initiatives and Industry and Competency Development, students spent the afternoon on a reverse-pitch hackathon, building for what Bukidnon actually needs: Agri-Intelligence, Marketplace, Tourism, Water and Climate, Financing, and Micro-Agency. Real problems, real prototypes, pitched shark-tank style. To code, coffee, and community, thank you for the energy, the warm welcome, and for reminding us why investing in grassroots matters. Bukidnon leg, complete, and the caravan now sets its sights on Iligan. Future-ready, they came curious, they leave capable. 👉 Follow DEVCON Bukidnon: https://www.facebook.com/devconbukidnon 👉 Follow DEVCON Kids: https://www.facebook.com/DEVCONKids 👉 Excited for Iligan? Register at https://devcon.plus/ #DEVCONPH #DEVCONKids #DEVCONBukidnon #NEXUS #AIAngat

𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝟭 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸𝘀, 𝗠𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗼! 🚀 The DEVCON AI Angat Caravan touched down at Lurugan National High School in Bukidnon, hosted and coordinated by our local DEVCON Bukidnon chapter, and the first stop did not waste a second. Teachers started the day with a Responsible AI and Hour of AI introduction, making sure the learning keeps going long after we leave. Aral ngayon, AI trabaho bukas, and this is what that looks like in a real classroom. Then it was the high school students' turn. High school students built playable games inside Google AI Studio, programmed robots with real sensor integration through ZM Robotics, and picked up their first micro:bit to build a wind vane project, one sensor reading wind direction, an accelerometer measuring tilt and acceleration. Four sessions, one campus, a whole lot of first times. First stop, complete. Tomorrow the caravan rolls into NEXUS, AI fluency training and a live hackathon for IT college students and young professionals. Swipe through the highlights, then follow along for what is next. 👉 Follow DEVCON Bukidnon: https://www.facebook.com/devconbukidnon 👉 Follow DEVCON Kids: https://www.facebook.com/DEVCONKids 👉 IT college students, your seat's waiting: https://devcon.plus/ #DEVCONPH #DEVCONKids #DEVCONBukidnon #AIAngat #MindanaoCaravan

𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘄𝗰𝗮𝘀𝗲: 𝗗𝗘𝗩𝗖𝗢𝗡 𝗜𝗹𝗼𝗶𝗹𝗼 𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝘁 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗲 🚀 DEVCON Iloilo takes the spotlight this week. As part of celebrating 17 Years of DEVCON: Engineering an AI-Ready Nation, one of our most active chapters showed what happens when a community builds with the whole province behind it. Beyond the numbers on the cards, the fuller story is in the sheer range of what they ran and who it reached, from elementary learners to seasoned professionals. The year was stacked. The Tech Awards honored student leaders building tech for social impact, backed by UMWAD Western Visayas. The Tech4Tomorrow Expo, a youth led innovation showcase, reached more than 1,300 people. Their proudest milestone, the Tech4All Summit, ran four days inside malls and pulled together national partnerships and volunteers entirely from the ground up. They also co-organized the Chain of Thought AI and Blockchain Code Camp with DEVCON Cebu, trained a fresh wave of Hour of AI volunteers, and closed the year with an awarding and reflection night. In the words of the DEVCON Iloilo team, "building a tech ecosystem in a province like Iloilo means investing in kids. They are the future, and every session reminded us how unequal access still is. That is exactly why we keep going." This is what an AI-ready nation looks like when it's built chapter by chapter. A new chapter takes the spotlight every week. Swipe through, then find yours. 👉 Follow DEVCON Iloilo on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DEVCONIloilo 👉 Register at devcon.plus and discover a chapter near you: https://devcon.plus/ #DEVCONPH #17YearsofDEVCON #DEVCON17 #EngineeringAnAIReadyNation #DEVCONIloilo

𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘄𝗰𝗮𝘀𝗲: 𝗗𝗘𝗩𝗖𝗢𝗡 𝗣𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗮 𝗶𝘀 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗱 🚀 DEVCON Pampanga takes the spotlight this week. As part of celebrating 17 Years of DEVCON: Engineering an AI-Ready Nation, one of our youngest chapters showed what steady, from-the-ground-up community building actually looks like. Beyond the numbers on the cards, the fuller story is in the range of what they ran and who kept showing up. The year was packed. Building Grassroots Community Workshop, Craft and Click, Pines and Pixels, Code in the Dark, Bytes and Brew, a Lead Learner's Workshop on micro:bit, Based Build with Base Philippines, and holiday code camps like Pasko ng Kasiyahan and the DEVCON Kids Code Camp: Pasko ng Kaalaman, mostly filling rooms with students who could not get this training in school. They also cracked the sustainability puzzle a lot of young chapters struggle with, partnering with local café Mug and Magic to trade foot traffic for venue space so events could keep running at low cost. In the words of the DEVCON Pampanga team, "as a new chapter, it means everything to consistently organize events every month and bring in new volunteers and attendees hungry for tech they cannot get in school." This is what an AI-ready nation looks like when it's built chapter by chapter. A new chapter takes the spotlight every week. Swipe through, then find yours. 👉 Follow DEVCON Pampanga on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/devconpampanga 👉 Register at devcon.plus and discover a chapter near you: https://devcon.plus/ #DEVCONPH #17YearsofDEVCON #DEVCON17 #EngineeringAnAIReadyNation #DEVCONPampanga

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗰𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝗻: 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗮 𝘄𝗿𝗮𝗽 𝗼𝗻 𝗗𝗘𝗩 𝗥𝗢𝗔𝗦𝗧 🔥🍕 We put the hype to the test. At DEV ROAST: The Ultimate AI Coding Assistant Showdown, professional developers ran Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and Qwen Coder head-to-head in live coding, debugging, architectural planning, and real production scenarios. No scripted demos, no marketing slides, just honest, unfiltered takes from developers who build every day. As part of 17 Years of DEVCON: Engineering an AI-Ready Nation, this is what an AI-ready developer community looks like: hands on the tools, comparing them in the open. The night ran on real workflows and real debate. Four developers, four stacks, four different ways to plan, code, debug, and automate with AI, all under the same constraints and side by side. Beyond the battle, DEVCON championed a multi-platform, orchestrator-driven approach and made the case for open-source alternatives so developers can build freely and flexibly. Then we closed the way we always do, with our Birds of a Feather discussion over pizza and beer. Hosted by DEVCON Manila with NMBLR.AI and the DEVCON AI Engineering Interns, and a shoutout to our raffle partner Sui for the prizes. Missed it, or already planning your comeback? This is one of many nights the community is building toward an AI-ready nation. Catch the next one and be in the room. 👉 Get notified about upcoming nationwide events: https://devcon.plus/events #DEVCON #DEVCONPH #DEVCON17 #DEVRoast #17YearsofDEVCON #EngineeringAnAIReadyNation #AIEngineering #BuildWithAI #DEVCONManila #DeveloperCommunity #NMBLR #Sui