DevConf.IN 2026: Advancing Open Innovation Through Collaboration

Feb 14, 2026

MIT World Peace University, Pune proudly hosted DevConf.IN 2026, which concluded successfully on February 13–14 at the university campus in collaboration with Red Hat. As a flagship open-source conference, the event once again reinforced the university’s commitment to fostering innovation and creating platforms where technology meets transformation, as envisioned by Vice Chancellor Dr. R. M. Chitnis.

The seamless execution of the conference reflected the strong academic leadership of Chief Academic Officer Dr. Prasad Khandekar and the dedicated efforts of Program Director Dr. Balaji Patil. Under the leadership of Lead Coordinator Dr. Sukhada Bhingarkar, a team of 20 faculty coordinators meticulously managed every aspect of the event, supported by an energetic team of over 80 captains, vice-captains, and volunteers. This collaborative effort between MIT-WPU and Red Hat exemplified the true spirit of community-driven innovation.

The conference commenced on Day 1 with a keynote address by Vincent Caldeira on Building India’s Sovereign AI Stack with Local Talent & Open Global Collaboration, followed by a keynote by Vijay Seshadri on Infrastructure to Intelligence: Building Scalable AI with Collaborative Ecosystems. These sessions set the tone for insightful discussions on emerging technologies and collaborative innovation.

Day 2 featured a keynote panel discussion moderated by Rajan Shah on Collaboration Synthesis: Engineering India’s Open AI Future from Classroom to Cloud, with distinguished panellists including Ameeta Roy, Dr. Balaji Patil, Chris Bredesen, Brian Proffitt, and Gaurav Hirani. The conference concluded with an insightful keynote by Dr. Vijay D. Gokhale, whose perspectives on the evolving technology landscape left a lasting impression on attendees. DevConf.IN 2026 stands as a strong testament to MIT-WPU, Pune’s vision of bridging academia with industry through meaningful engagement and knowledge exchange.