A free large-scale annual meetup for Azure and cloud platform engineers, held on 1 July 2026 at Dierenpark Apenheul in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands, featuring talks, workshops, a keynote, and evening dinner networking in what the organisers call the XXL day format.
APE (AI Platform Engineering) is an annual community meetup for professionals working with Microsoft Azure, cloud platform engineering, and AI-native infrastructure. The event is held at Dierenpark Apenheul, a primate park in Apeldoorn, and is free to attend. The XXL day format spans a full working day and includes a keynote, technical talks, and hands-on workshops, followed by an evening dinner for networking. Registration is via the official website and Meetup.com.
The 2026 edition takes place on 1 July at Dierenpark Apenheul, J.C. Wilslaan 21, Apeldoorn. The programme follows the established APE format: a keynote session, parallel technical talks, hands-on workshops, and an evening dinner. Speakers for the 2026 edition are not announced as of the verification date. The event is free to attend and registration is open via ai-ape.nl and Meetup.com.
APE (AI Platform Engineering) is a free annual community meetup for Azure and cloud platform engineers, held at Dierenpark Apenheul in Apeldoorn. The 2026 edition takes place on 1 July. The XXL day format includes talks, workshops, a keynote, and an evening dinner. Registration is at ai-ape.nl and Meetup.com.
Dierenpark Apenheul is a well-known primate park in the Netherlands and the acronym APE (Apenheul Platform Engineering, now AI Platform Engineering) plays on the location. The venue provides an unconventional and memorable setting for a community event, which is a deliberate organisational choice.
The event centres on the Microsoft Azure ecosystem. Engineers working primarily with AWS, Google Cloud, or other platforms without an Azure focus are likely to find the content less directly applicable.
Attendance figures are not publicly disclosed as of verification. The "XXL" descriptor in the organiser's communication suggests the event is larger than a typical community meetup, but specific numbers are not confirmed.
Attendees unlikely to find the content directly useful include:
Dierenpark Apenheul is a primate zoo at J.C. Wilslaan 21 in Apeldoorn, in the Gelderland province of the Netherlands. The park is known for its free-roaming primate populations and is a popular visitor destination. For APE, the venue is used as an event space outside normal park operations. Apeldoorn is served by direct trains from Amsterdam (approximately 1 hour), Utrecht (approximately 40 minutes), and other Dutch cities. The venue is accessible by bus from Apeldoorn station or by car with parking available on site.
The Azure Platform Engineering Meetup is a Dutch community organisation focused on Azure and cloud platform engineering. It organises APE as its flagship annual event and maintains a presence on Meetup.com for community members. Further information is at https://ai-ape.nl/.
The combination of free entry, a full-day technical format, and an evening dinner for 100+ Azure practitioners in one room is harder to construct than it looks; APE has found a format that keeps the community returning year after year without a commercial structure.
APE 2026 is free to attend. Registration is available at https://ai-ape.nl/ and on Meetup.com. As capacity at the venue may be limited, registration in advance is advisable.
Apenheul is at J.C. Wilslaan 21, Apeldoorn. From Apeldoorn railway station, bus line 7 connects to the venue (approximately 20 minutes). By car, the venue is signposted from the A1 and A50 motorways. Parking is available at the park.
Attendance is free according to confirmed event data.
The evening dinner is part of the confirmed format according to l3 enrichment. Whether it is included in the free ticket or charged separately is not publicly confirmed as of verification. Check ai-ape.nl for details.
| Official website | https://ai-ape.nl/ |
| Register | https://ai-ape.nl/ |
| Programme | not disclosed |