Biotech Meetups Sydney

AI Pop-in Parramatta Library (Partner Event)

A Western Sydney Tech Innovators x Parramatta Library Initiative -- free, hands-on AI session for everyone! Curious about AI but not sure where to start? Book in for a relaxed, hands-on session at **Parramatta Library Ideas Lounge on Level 1**. Whether you're reinventing your career, growing a small business, or simply AI-curious, you'll leave with practical AI skills you can use straight away. **Booking HAS to be made through the Parramatta Council Booking System:** [https://www.cityofparramatta.nsw.gov.au/community/events/upcoming-events/AI-Pop-In-Parramatta-Library-ev_b829de6a149d4ef491dbcce078b8fc20](https://www.cityofparramatta.nsw.gov.au/community/events/upcoming-events/AI-Pop-In-Parramatta-Library-ev_b829de6a149d4ef491dbcce078b8fc20) **Sessions run between 2–4pm, with each session lasting 1 hour. Each hour features a different hands-on activity.** *Tue 29 Sep -- Grow Your Audience & Build Your Brand* * 2:00-3:00pm -- AI for creating content, video & building a personal brand * 3:00-4:00pm -- AI for growing audience & visibility with AI-assisted social media **About Western Sydney Tech Innovators (WSTI)** Western Sydney Tech Innovators (WSTI) is a Parramatta-based not-for-profit dedicated to making AI accessible to all. From building community AI literacy to supporting students, founders and small businesses, WSTI empowers people to explore, learn and innovate with AI. Since 2024, WSTI has grown a network of over 3,500 innovators across Western Sydney through free workshops, hands-on programs and AI hackathons. They also co-launched the region’s first AI Shed with Dr Andrew Charlton MP in September 2025. Learn more: wsti.org.au

Sydney Monthly Social Tech Meetup!

**Welcome to the Sydney Monthly Social Tech Meetup!** Last Thursday of every month. All welcome, or whether you're a hobbyist, student, or working as a software engineer, UI/UX designer, AI specialist or data scientist, in tech management or product, or maybe just like hanging out with techies. Basically for anyone in the Sydney tech scene. Mountain Goat always has some great craft beers and ciders on $5 beer+wine happy hour special until 6pm, so get in early! Also they run a food & drink special all night if you'd like a feed. It'll be great to see you there!

Welcome to the next 2026 AWS Sydney Well-Architected Meetup!

Hi Architects, Welcome to the next 2026 AWS Sydney Well-Architected User Group Meetup! Each month we cover off AWS best-practices across all pillars and give away drones - lots of drones 🥳 **Please also note that AWS Security now requests a company name and company email where it is available. If you are a student, please list your institution and your student email address at that institution 👍** We'll be announcing more speakers on [https://well-architected.me](https://well-architected.me/) and previewing presentations during the coming weeks - our speakers and details this month include: * **Shilin Wu, Principal Solution Architect — VeloDB / Apache Doris** **Cost-Efficient Real-Time Analytics on AWS: Storage-Compute Separation with Apache Doris** Real-time analytics have a reputation for being expensive — you pay for fast storage you barely use, and for compute that sits idle overnight. This session walks through VeloDB / Apache Doris's storage-compute separation architecture on AWS, showing how to push warm data down to S3 while keeping sub-second query latency on the data that matters. We'll round off with a **live demo** querying billions of rows against S3-backed storage, soattendees can see the latency-vs-cost trade-off in action rather than on a slide. * **Mystery Speaker** **Generative AI Cost Optimisation** Cost Optimisation is essential but with all the anecdotal stories of massive token budget blowouts, staying on top of Generative AI best-practices is essential to avoiding these scenarios. This month's menu will include: * Pizzas * Beer: Nastro Azzurro * Wine: Big and red 🤤 So come join us at 5:30 for a 6pm **SHARP** start, followed by beer, wine, pizza and friendly networking after our talks :-) Tired of Linkedin’s "thought leadership”, spam and advertising? Join https://well-architected.me/ , the AWS community built for architects, developers and cloud professionals. * Connect with experienced AWS practitioners * Preview upcoming AWS Meetups and relive past content * Create and review beautiful AWS case studies in minutes * Prepare for AWS certifications with curated quizzes * Show your manager and reports you’re well-architected (Please note that by registering to attend you agree to your details being shared as and where required with Amazon Web Services and AWS Well-Architected User Group partners)

Machine Learning to mRNA: How I Built a Personalised Cancer Vaccine for My Dog

**Speaker bio:** * Paul Conyngham is the founder of Gamgee, a Y Combinator company developing personalised mRNA cancer vaccines for dogs. After 17 years in machine learning, Paul taught himself genomics and used AI to design a personalised vaccine for his dog Rosie, whose responsive tumours shrank by 50–75%. **Presentation outline:** \- Rosie’s cancer and why existing treatments were not enough \- Using AI to cross from machine learning into genomics \- The journey from tumour sequencing to an administered mRNA vaccine \- What worked\, what failed and what one patient can teach us \- Turning a year\-long manual process into repeatable software \- Why Gamgee is starting with dogs and where the technology goes next * Join our community on Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14297125/ to stay up-to-date on all our upcoming events We are grateful to our new hosts and sponsors the Centre for Business Intelligence and Data Analytics (BIDA) at the Business School, University of Technology, Sydney

Quality in Small Startups by Sam Connelly & 2026 Job Market by Andrea McHutchon

For our September in-person event generously hosted and supported by Salt Solutions Group, there are two great speakers offering diverse and prescient topics that people have asked us to cover for a while. Sam Connelly, the popular tester and public speaker and former chair of Sydney Testers, will be reprising her talk at Equal Experts: "Small Team, Big Stack", to talk about how she brought in quality practice into a small fintech startup. Andrea McHutchon (Regional Director at Salt) will be giving us the facts and intelligence on the current 2026 tech job market including salary trends and in-demand skills! **Sam Connelly: Small Team, Big Stack: A Quality Toolkit Built from the Ground Up** Most talks about quality assume you've got a QA team, a test framework someone already built, and headcount to spare. This one's for when you don't. **Sam Connelly a.k.a. BugHunterSam**, Principal Quality Consultant within the Equal Experts network in Australia, walks through how a small startup team builds and maintains confidence in what they ship — for a predominantly JavaScript web app — without any of that safety net. **What we'll cover:** * **Unit testing** — what we actually test (and, just as importantly, what we don't) * **BDD, pragmatically** — the test framework we built, and how we've kept it extensible as our underlying model evolves * **Debugging from the outside in** — using analytics frameworks to reconstruct what a user did right before something broke * **Where we're headed** — early experiments including a self-healing UI E2E agent, and using Claude Code as an exploratory testing partner rather than just a coding tool **Andrea McHutchon: An Update on the Sydney Tech Hiring Market and In-Demand Skills in 2026** As part of the event, we will provide an overview of the **current technology talent and hiring market,** sharing - * Real-time insights into candidate availability * Salary trends * In-demand skills * What we are seeing from businesses hiring across the sector. We will also be giving out prizes along with our usual chances for networking and socialisation! Not to be missed

Sydney AI Meetup : Scale Without Hiring 🚀

**AI Agents • AI Automation • Build vs Outsource • AI Developers** Want to use **AI to grow your business**, but not sure whether to **build in-house, hire AI developers or outsource**? Join Sydney **founders, startups, business owners and tech leaders** for a practical conversation on how businesses are using **AI, AI Agents, ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and other agents to automate and** to scale faster. *** We’ll explore: 🤖 **AI Agents & Automation** – real business use cases 🚀 **Scale Without Hiring** – increase tech capacity without permanent headcount 💻 **Build vs Outsource** – when to hire, outsource or use a hybrid development team 💰 **Cost vs Speed** – finding the right model to build and launch AI solutions 🤝 **Networking** – connect with Sydney's AI, startup and business community Whether you're planning an **AI project, looking for AI developers, exploring offshore development, or simply figuring out where to start**, this event is for you. **AI • Artificial Intelligence • AI Agents • ChatGPT • AI Automation • AI Developers • Software Development • Outsourcing • Offshore Developers • Startups • Small Business • Business Growth • Sydney Networking** **Hosted by www.SkillzConnect.com.au** **Build smarter. Automate more. Scale without hiring.**

WSTI 2nd Anniversary & AI Fellowship Demo Night

**Western Sydney Tech Innovators is proud to present AI Fellowship Demo Night in collaboration with Western Sydney Startup Hub, with an evening full of founder pitches, live demonstrations and community connection.** The evening will also celebrate WSTI’s second anniversary and its contribution to the broader innovation community. The event will begin with networking, food and drinks from 5:30 pm, followed by a welcome and acknowledgement at 6:00 pm. From 6:10 pm, five founders from the AI Fellowship cohort will take the stage to pitch their ideas, demonstrate their prototypes or minimum viable products (MVPs), and answer audience questions. The founder sessions will be followed by more networking, food and drinks from 7:00 pm. RSVP or get a ticket at: [https://events.humanitix.com/ai-fellowship-demo-night-western-sydney](https://events.humanitix.com/ai-fellowship-demo-night-western-sydney) *Spacecubed's AI Fellowship is made possible by Scale Partners and WSTI. [Learn more about the program here!](https://spacecubed.com/programs/ai-fellowship)*

Lunch and Co-Working

AI & Tech Community Mixer: Casual Networking (Novotel Darling Harbour)

**AI Learners Club and Altamir invite you to Novotel Darling Harbour!** Join us for an afternoon of networking, connection, and conversation at one of Sydney's most iconic locations. Whether you're an AI enthusiast, entrepreneur, business professional, creator, student, or simply curious about the future of artificial intelligence, this is an opportunity to meet like-minded people and expand your network. The event is designed to bring together people from different backgrounds who are interested in learning about AI, discovering new opportunities, sharing ideas, and building meaningful connections. 🤝 **Meet new people** 💡 **Share ideas and insights** 🤖 **Connect with the AI community** 🚀 **Discover new opportunities** 📖 **Learn something new** 🌐 **Build your professional network** Come along and bring your friends, introduce yourself, meet new people, and be part of a growing community exploring the future of AI. Whether you're completely new to AI or already working with the latest tools, everyone is welcome. **Learn. Connect. Build the Future.** **Follow us on LinkedIN:** [https://www.linkedin.com/company/ailearnersclub](https://www.linkedin.com/company/ailearnersclub/)/ **Hosted by** **Dev Roy (President of AI Learners Club)** https://www.linkedin.com/in/aihistorian/ **Dennis Devendra Singh (CEO of Altamir & Vice President of AILC)** https://www.linkedin.com/in/dennis-singh-altamir **Lukas Huber (Community Manager)** https://www.linkedin.com/in/schnellstart/

Saturday AI Lab: Friendly News, Tips & Practical Demos (Beginner-Friendly)

### **Curious about AI but not sure where to begin?** Welcome back! We are restarting our popular **Saturday Lab sessions**—a casual, friendly space designed to help you make sense of artificial intelligence without the tech jargon, noise, or hype. If you feel a bit overwhelmed by how fast technology is moving, or if you just want to see how these new tools can actually help you in your daily work, study, or life, this session is for you. We build a supportive, human-first environment where you can start small and grow your skills at your own pace alongside your neighbours. No coding experience or tech background is required. We are all here to learn and grow together. ### **What to Expect:** We keep our Saturday sessions relaxed, practical, and grounded. Here is how we will spend our two hours together: * **1\. Plain\-English News of the Month \(15 mins\):** A friendly breakdown of the latest updates in the AI world. We skip the technical hype and explain exactly what these changes mean for you, our community, and local jobs. * **2\. Practical Tips & Tricks \(30 mins\):** Step-by-step, actionable advice. We’ll share simple prompts, time-saving shortcuts, and everyday hacks that you can start using immediately. * **3\. Community Practical Demo \(30 mins\):** We’ll hand the floor over for a real-world, hands-on demonstration. You will watch someone from our community walk through how they actually built a simple tool, automated a task, or solved a local problem using AI. * **4\. Tea\, Coffee & Open Chat \(30 mins\):** Stick around to grab a drink, ask questions, play with some tools, and connect with other curious minds in Western Sydney. ### **Who is this for?** * **Complete Beginners:** If you've never used a chatbot or are worried about making mistakes, you are incredibly welcome here. * **Small Business Owners & Solopreneurs:** Looking to simplify your daily tasks and reclaim some time. * **Job-Seekers & Career Transitioners:** Wanting to build your confidence and learn valuable modern skills step-by-step. * **The Simply Curious:** Anyone who wants to understand how these tools are shaping our collective future in a supportive environment. * **Coders & Techies:** You are absolutely welcome to join, share your knowledge, and mentor others! ### **What to Bring:** * Your curiosity and questions! * **Optional:** A laptop or tablet if you would like to follow along and tinker with tools during the open chat. (Don't worry if you don't have one—we always have a few community devices on hand to share). Let's plant the seeds of new skills and build our tech confidence together. RSVP now to save your seat at the Hub!

Agentic Engineering Meetup, September Edition

Hey everyone, join us for the September edition of the Agentic Engineering Meetup! We'll have two exciting talks, great discussions, and plenty of opportunities to connect with fellow engineers, AI practitioners, and technology enthusiasts. 🎉 Seats are limited, so RSVP early to secure your spot. 🏠 **Location** Hub24 Level 16, 5 Martin Place Sydney NSW 2000, Australia 🍕 **Food & Refreshments** Kindly provided by Hub24😊 **Schedule** 🕠 5:30 PM – Doors Open, Refreshments & Networking 🕕 5:50 PM – Welcome & Announcements 🎤 6:00 PM – Talk 1: Kaizen in a Dark Factory: Does Continuous Improvement Work When No-One's There? 🎤 6:30 PM – Talk 2: How I Built a Full Featured Fluid Simulation App for $300. 🤝 7:00 PM – Networking 🚪 7:30 PM – Event Close **Speakers:** \-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\- 🎤 **EVAN MORRISON**, PhD. Head of Innovation Lab, Hub24 **Talk Title**: Kaizen in a Dark Factory: Does Continuous Improvement Work When No-One's There? **Talk Summary**: The software industry is having a moment. There are agentic engineering operators like StrongDM that claim to have nailed an approach of shipping production systems that are neither reviewed nor written by engineers. Operations teams are the obvious next target. Software has traditionally encountered challenges in this domain as a result of the communication patterns and unstructured processes in those teams. Evan will argue that an operations team doesn't become a completely dark factory with no people. However, it may reduce to a small team of people watching a very complex andon cord. He'll present a framework that divides work into decidable outcomes, handled by deterministic mechanisms, and human in the loop judgements. \-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\- 🎤 **AUBREY GOODMAN**, Founder and Principal Engineer, Ferrion **Talk Title**: How I Built a Full Featured Fluid Simulation App for $300. **Talk Summary**: A simple breakdown of the process I used to craft prompts and use agents cost-effectively to build over 100 feature-rich phases over two months to deliver a fluid simulation product published to the App Store, all for about $300 using Claude Max without any token overage charges. Covers techniques for writing prompts to keep Claude on target, getting the most out of a session context, and handing off work between sessions without blowing up the token budget.

The AI Project Brain: NotebookLM to Align Business Goals, SEO & Development

The most expensive bug in a WordPress project often isn't hidden in the code — it's hidden in communication. When business requirements, SEO strategies, UX decisions, and developer specifications are scattered across emails, Slack conversations, Google Docs, and meeting notes, projects slow down, scope creeps in, and teams waste time rebuilding features that could have been avoided. That challenge becomes even more common as projects grow. Developers spend valuable time searching for information, clients receive inconsistent answers, and important decisions become difficult to track because no single source contains the full picture. In this practical session, Georgia Tan, Co-Founder of Switch Key Digital, demonstrates how to build a centralised "Project Brain" using Google's NotebookLM. By bringing together client goals, UX wireframes, SEO documentation, and project requirements into a single AI-powered knowledge base, teams can quickly find answers, stay aligned, and make better decisions throughout the entire project lifecycle. **You'll walk away with:** ✅ A practical framework for building a centralised AI-powered project knowledge base using NotebookLM ✅ Faster ways to find answers across project documentation without digging through emails and chat history ✅ Techniques for turning SEO audits and business requirements into clear technical specifications for developers ✅ Better strategies for keeping clients, strategists, and development teams aligned while reducing scope creep **🎯 Who's It For?** WordPress developers, digital agencies, project managers, SEO specialists, and anyone involved in planning or delivering WordPress projects who wants to improve collaboration and documentation. This session is ideal for teams managing multiple stakeholders, client requirements, and technical documentation. **Format** * In-person Event * Arrive 6:30 for pre-networking * Talk starts at 6:45. 👉 **Host:** Georgia Tan, [Switch Key Digital](https://www.switchkeydigital.com/)