The largest developer conference on the Adriatic coast: three days of AI, infrastructure and platform engineering in Zadar, Croatia.
Infobip Shift is a three-day developer conference held each September at the Kresimir Cosic Hall in the Visnjik Sports Center, Zadar, Croatia. It gathers over 5,000 engineers and 80+ speakers from across Europe and beyond for sessions on AI, developer tools, infrastructure, distributed systems, platform engineering, cloud and DevOps, APIs, data systems, security and system design. Organised by the Croatian communications company Infobip, it has grown into the largest developer event in southeastern Europe. It sits within the developer and AI conference circuit tracked by Events Index.
The conference runs across six parallel stages addressing the full developer stack. Sessions cover AI integration in production environments, platform engineering and DevOps practices, distributed systems design, cloud infrastructure, APIs and data systems, and application security. The 2026 programme, per the organiser, is weighted toward AI tooling, career growth in engineering, and the practical problems developers face day to day rather than vendor product launches. The format combines keynote talks on the main stages with breakout sessions, live coding demonstrations and hands-on workshops.
Organiser Stipe Cigic has described the editorial line plainly: "We avoid professional speakers, marketing-driven presentations, and topics overloaded with buzzwords and hype." That practitioner-first stance is a recurring theme in how Shift positions itself against larger commercial conferences on the developer and AI circuit.
The 2026 roster of 80+ speakers draws from major technology companies and figures from the history of the web. Confirmed names announced by the organiser and covered in trade press include:
The mix of active engineering leaders and web-standards pioneers is characteristic of Shift's programme, which pairs current production practice with longer-view technical history. For attendees comparing rosters across the developer and AI circuit, Shift's draw is the concentration of senior practitioners in a single coastal venue rather than a capital city.
Coverage of Shift concentrates in Croatian and regional developer press, with the conference's own editorially independent publication, ShiftMag, providing the most detailed reporting. Confirmed coverage angles include:
Media accreditation is handled on site: the organiser states that journalists from recognised outlets can obtain a media pass, with interviews bookable through the event app and conducted in a press corner in the Speakers' Area. The organiser does not publicly disclose accredited journalist counts as of this verification.
Zadar is a coastal city on the Dalmatian coast of Croatia. The Visnjik Sports Center, anchored by the Kresimir Cosic Hall, is a large indoor arena complex reported at roughly 15,000 square metres that can accommodate the conference's six stages, five halls and 5,000-plus attendees. Its location in a mid-sized city, rather than a European capital, is a deliberate part of Shift's identity: the venue sits within reach of major European airports while keeping travel and accommodation costs below those of London, Berlin or Amsterdam.
Zadar Airport (ZAD) carries seasonal direct connections from several European cities, and Split Airport, roughly 100 km south, serves as a larger alternative. For engineers based in Central and Eastern Europe, Shift is the most proximate large-format developer conference of this scope, a positioning it shares in spirit with regional events such as Infoshare in Gdansk.
The primary audience is software developers and engineers, with strong representation from DevOps and platform teams, founders and IT professionals. The 500+ companies represented span startups, scale-ups and enterprise engineering teams, drawn largely from the European developer community but reaching 40+ countries across five continents at recent editions.
No. While Infobip organises the event, the programme covers broad software engineering topics across six stages. Infobip's own API and communications products may appear in relevant sessions, but the conference is not a product showcase, and the organiser explicitly screens out marketing-driven presentations.
Shift differentiates on venue and cost: a coastal Croatian city rather than a capital, with ticket prices well below comparable European events, while still fielding a speaker roster from top-tier engineering organisations. Developers weighing alternatives on the developer and AI circuit often compare it against Devoxx Belgium in Antwerp and Øredev in Malmo, both larger-format practitioner conferences in the same season.
Yes. Shift originated as an independent conference in Split before Infobip acquired it and moved the flagship edition to Zadar, where it has run annually and grown into the largest developer event in southeastern Europe. Infobip has also extended the Shift brand to editions outside Croatia in recent years.
Infobip Shift is the largest developer conference on the Adriatic coast, drawing 5,000+ engineers to Zadar each September with 80+ speakers across AI, infrastructure, platform engineering and distributed systems. The Croatia location is a deliberate differentiator: Shift competes with European developer conferences by offering a coastal venue at lower cost than London, Berlin or Amsterdam while maintaining a speaker roster drawn from top-tier engineering organisations and, increasingly, from the history of the web itself. Its practitioner-first editorial line, screening out marketing talks in favour of real engineering problems, is the clearest signal of what it is trying to be within the developer and AI conference circuit.
Tickets are sold through shift.infobip.com. Three tiers are available, all prices excluding VAT (figures reflect the regular-bird phase as verified in July 2026):
| Ticket type | Price (EUR, ex VAT) |
|---|---|
| Student | 40 |
| Standard | 229 |
| All Access | 359 |
The All Access pass includes additional workshops and events beyond the two-day main conference programme. VAT is added at checkout. Pricing rises through successive release phases, so the figures above may change closer to the event; the current tier is always shown on the official site. Registration URL: https://shift.infobip.com/
Zadar Airport (ZAD) has seasonal direct connections from major European cities. Split Airport is a larger alternative roughly 100 km south. The Visnjik Sports Center is accessible from central Zadar by local transport.
Accommodation is not included in the ticket price. Zadar has a range of hotels and apartments; booking early is advisable given the 5,000-plus attendance. The conference website typically lists partner hotels closer to the event.
The conference is primarily in-person across its six stages. Check the official site for any livestream or recording access, which the organiser has offered selectively in past editions rather than as a full hybrid programme.
Events Index tracks comparable events on the developer and AI conference circuit, and upcoming dates across EMEA are listed on the upcoming events page. Adjacent options in the same autumn window include Devoxx Belgium, Øredev and Infoshare.
| Official website | https://shift.infobip.com/ |
| Register | https://shift.infobip.com/attend/ |
| Speakers | https://shift.infobip.com/speakers/ |
| Developer and AI circuit (Events Index) | /developer-ai.html |
| Upcoming EMEA events (Events Index) | /upcoming.html |