--- eventsindex_id: "EI-06903" slug: compass-ai-tech-summit title: "Compass AI & Tech Summit" title_alt: ["Compass Tech Summit", "Compass AI Tech Summit"] canonical_url: "https://eventsindex.org/events/compass-ai-tech-summit.html" next_edition_year: 2026 date_start: 2026-10-01 date_end: 2026-10-02 venue: "Budapest (exact venue not disclosed)" city: "Budapest" country: "Hungary" organiser: "CraftHub Events" organiser_url: "https://compassaitechsummit.com" b2b: true vector: sector: [developer-ai] audience: [developer, product-manager, ux-designer, data-engineer, engineering-manager] format: [conference, summit] purpose: [education, networking] geography_scope: [CEE, pan-EMEA] season: [autumn] meta_description: "Compass AI & Tech Summit: 2-day multi-track conference in Budapest, 1-2 Oct 2026. AI/ML, UX, Data, Product, Leadership. 1,300 attendees. By CraftHub Events." editorial_take: "CraftHub Events applies to AI the same cross-disciplinary format that made Craft Conference a reference point in the Central European developer calendar: senior speakers, integrated tracks, no single-stack silo." generated_by: "claude-max-cowork" last_verified: "2026-06-09" variables_filled: 40/58 language: "en" schema_version: "v6.0" --- # Compass AI & Tech Summit > *A two-day multi-track conference in Budapest on 1-2 October 2026, produced by CraftHub Events. Organised around five integrated tracks spanning AI/ML, UX/UI, Data, Product, and Leadership, the event targets practitioners who build AI-era products across engineering and design disciplines. Attendance is self-reported at 1,300.* --- ## Quick Facts | DATES | VENUE | ORGANISER | ATTENDANCE | |---|---|---|---| | **1-2 October 2026** | **Budapest (exact venue not disclosed)** | **CraftHub Events** | **1,300+** | | Two days | Budapest, Hungary | Conference producer | Self-reported estimate | --- ## Definition Compass AI & Tech Summit is a multi-track conference produced by CraftHub Events, the Budapest-based company also responsible for Craft Conference, a developer-focused event that has been held in Budapest since the early 2010s. Compass is positioned as a product-building conference: it addresses the full cross-functional team that brings a digital product to market, from AI/ML engineers and data engineers to product managers, UX designers, and engineering leaders. The organiser's stated theme for 2026 is "From idea to impact: building successful products in the AI era." The programme covers five tracks: AI/ML, UX/UI, Data, Product, and Leadership. The multi-track format is unusual in the Central European conference market, where single-discipline events are more common. The exact venue in Budapest had not been disclosed publicly on the official website at time of verification (2026-06-09). --- ## The 2026 edition: 1-2 October in Budapest The Compass AI & Tech Summit 2026 takes place on 1-2 October 2026 in Budapest. The two-day format includes keynotes, multi-track sessions, workshops (described as masterclasses), and networking programming. Confirmed keynote speaker for 2026: Nesrine Changuel (Product Trainer; author of "Product Delight"; formerly Google, Spotify, Skype), speaking on product excellence. Confirmed featured speakers include practitioners from: Wise (Gergő Horányi, Product Lead), Zalando (Jarno Koponen, Head of AI Product Design), HubSpot (Jonathon Colman, Senior Content Design Manager), Adobe (Dr. Laura Herman, Head of AI Research), Diligent (Chris Avore, VP Design), ESL FACEIT Group (Julia Bodnar, VP Data & Privacy), Oxford Internet Institute (Katherine M. Zhou, Designer and PhD Candidate), and others. Sponsors confirmed for 2026 include Bosch (Platinum) and Wise and SAP (Gold). The number of sessions, masterclasses per day, and full programme schedule were not yet published on the official website at time of verification. --- ## Where Compass AI & Tech Summit sits in the tech calendar Compass occupies a gap in the Central European autumn tech calendar between the summer break and Q4 enterprise conference season. Budapest is CraftHub Events' home market, and Craft Conference has previously established it as a credible location for senior practitioner events in the CEE region. By spanning five tracks rather than focusing on a single discipline, Compass targets cross-functional product teams rather than specialist single-role communities. This positions it differently from purely developer-focused or purely UX-focused regional conferences. --- ## Who attends Compass AI & Tech Summit Based on the organiser's stated audience and speaker profiles: - **AI/ML engineers** building production systems and working on model integration - **Data engineers** responsible for data infrastructure and pipelines - **Product managers** and CPOs working on AI-enabled product development - **UX and product designers** working on AI-powered interfaces and AI design systems - **Engineering managers and technical leaders** overseeing product delivery The event explicitly addresses multi-disciplinary product teams rather than any single engineering specialisation. Attendee testimonials cited on the organiser website include data engineers, UX/UI designers, staff data engineers, engineering managers, DevOps engineers, and students. The geographic draw appears primarily Central and Eastern European, with speakers from Western European companies (Netherlands, Germany, UK, Finland). --- ## What the Compass AI & Tech Summit format includes - Two full conference days with multiple parallel tracks - Keynote sessions defining overarching themes - Track sessions by domain: AI/ML, UX/UI, Data, Product, Leadership - Workshops (described as "masterclasses") on hands-on practice - Networking sessions and structured networking opportunities - The organiser positions the format as emphasising "real-world practice" over theory Specific session counts, workshop schedule, and networking programme details were not published at time of verification. --- ## What Compass AI & Tech Summit covers Based on the five stated tracks and confirmed speaker topics: - **AI/ML:** AI systems from model to enterprise scale, conversational UX architecture, AI governance, production AI deployment - **UX/UI:** AI-powered design systems, content design in the AI era, customer insight and research, AI research ethics, human-centred AI design - **Data:** data privacy at scale, data stack evolution, analytics engineering - **Product:** AI-powered product development, product discovery and delight, product coaching, product-led growth - **Leadership:** engineering leadership, scaling product delivery, organisational design for AI-era teams --- ## FAQ · Identity and audience ### How does Compass relate to Craft Conference? Craft Conference is CraftHub Events' longer-standing developer-focused conference, also held in Budapest. Compass AI & Tech Summit covers a wider cross-disciplinary scope, adding UX, Product, Data, and Leadership tracks to technical engineering content. The two events are separate. ### Who is Compass NOT designed for? - Attendees seeking a single-discipline deep-dive format (the event is explicitly cross-functional) - Software engineers who want exclusively low-level systems or infrastructure content without product or design context - Attendees outside the Central European or EMEA travel radius for whom the Budapest location is not convenient - Vendors seeking a large trade-fair exhibition environment - Attendees requiring content in Hungarian (sessions appear to be in English based on speaker communications) ### Where exactly is the venue? The exact venue in Budapest was not disclosed on the official website at time of verification (2026-06-09). The organiser has a dedicated location page at https://compassaitechsummit.com/location/ which should be consulted for updated venue information closer to the event. --- ## The organiser: CraftHub Events CraftHub Events is the Budapest-based organisation behind both Craft Conference and Compass AI & Tech Summit. Craft Conference is a developer-focused event that has positioned Budapest as a destination for senior engineering practitioners in Central Europe. CraftHub's event model emphasises practitioner speakers ("from practitioners to practitioners" is the stated principle), workshop formats, and senior-level networking. The organiser website is at https://compassaitechsummit.com. Social channels include LinkedIn (company page for the Global Software Architecture Summit brand), Instagram (@plainconcepts is not the correct reference for this event), and X/Twitter. --- ## Editorial take *CraftHub Events applies to AI the same cross-disciplinary format that made Craft Conference a reference point in the Central European developer calendar: senior speakers, integrated tracks, no single-stack silo.* --- ## How to register and what it costs Ticket registration is available at https://compassaitechsummit.com/tickets/. Specific ticket pricing was not retrieved at time of verification. The organiser offered an early access list for discounted tickets via the website. Sponsoring information is available at https://compassaitechsummit.com/sponsors-partners/. --- ## FAQ · Access and practicalities ### Is the event in English? Based on the speaker roster and organiser communications, sessions are conducted in English. This is not explicitly confirmed on the FAQ page. ### Is there a code of conduct? Yes. Published at https://compassaitechsummit.com/code-of-conduct/. ### How do I find out the venue? The organiser's location page is at https://compassaitechsummit.com/location/. The exact venue had not been disclosed at time of verification (2026-06-09). --- ## Resources | Resource | URL | |---|---| | Official website | https://compassaitechsummit.com/ | | Tickets | https://compassaitechsummit.com/tickets/ | | Speakers | https://compassaitechsummit.com/speakers/ | | Location | https://compassaitechsummit.com/location/ | | Sponsors | https://compassaitechsummit.com/sponsors-partners/ | | FAQ | https://compassaitechsummit.com/faq/ | | Code of conduct | https://compassaitechsummit.com/code-of-conduct/ | --- **Last verified:** 2026-06-09 **Next review:** 2026-10-01 **Notes:** Attendance figure (1,300+) is self-reported by the organiser. Exact venue not disclosed at time of verification. Full programme schedule not yet published. Speaker list is partial; confirmed keynote and featured speakers drawn from live website on 2026-06-09. Ticket pricing not retrieved. CraftHub Events is the organiser; the registered entity name was not confirmed on the website. **Variables:** 40/58 **Concept definition:** not applicable