Home / Articles / Vibathon Algarve 2026: a sold-out day of building with AI at the University of the Algarve, and Algarve Evolution, the movement that wants the region to be an innovation hub

Vibathon Algarve 2026: a sold-out day of building with AI at the University of the Algarve, and Algarve Evolution, the movement that wants the region to be an innovation hub

By Dinis Cruz · 2026-10-31 · article v1.0.0 · newsroom v0.14.19 · algarveportugaleventsstartupsecosystemlovableeducationarticle

Abstract: I spent today at the Vibathon Algarve 2026, at the University of the Algarve's TEC Campus in Faro: a room full of students, professionals and the simply curious, each with a laptop, a free allowance of Lovable credits and one day to turn an idea into a working app, with mentors, volunteers, a jury and prizes at the end. It sold out, with a waiting list. The day was organised by Algarve Evolution, and this is a debrief about them, because the work they do deserves to be better known. Algarve Evolution began in 2018 as a small group of local entrepreneurs and is now an association of 106 active members whose companies, by its own figures, turn over about €100 million a year and employ about a thousand people. Its vision is to make the Algarve a top southern European innovation hub, and it works on three pillars: education, from the university's entrepreneurship programme to secondary schools; startups and smaller companies, from a founder-to-founder growth programme to a study of AI and robotics for the region's tourism businesses; and the ecosystem itself, from mapping 24 digital communities to helping the regional authority plan its digitalisation. It counts more than 142 events in two years. António Guerreiro, its executive director, opened the day; I spoke after him, in English, about why this is the biggest opportunity of these participants' lives, and why the only way to get it is to ship something someone else can use, and repeat.

In short

• A sold-out day of building with AI at the University of the Algarve's TEC Campus in Faro, on 31 October.
• No coding needed. Every participant had Lovable credits, a day, mentors, and a jury at the end.
• It was organised by Algarve Evolution, an association that began in 2018 as a small group of local entrepreneurs.
• Today it has 106 active members, whose companies, by its own figures, employ about a thousand people.
• Its vision is a top southern European innovation hub, on three pillars: education, startups and SMEs, and the ecosystem.
• The opportunity is real, I told the room, and the way to take it is to ship something someone else can use, and repeat.

A day to build something

The event page put the idea in one line: an idea you have been sitting on, a problem you face at work, something your community needs, and the question "What if you could build the first version in a day?" On 31 October, from nine to six, Algarve Evolution and Lovable gave anyone who registered the chance to find out. Registration was free, the event sold out and opened a waiting list, and the room filled with students, professionals, creatives and the curious, many of them with no coding experience at all, which was the point.

Each participant got free Lovable credits, meals, an introduction to the tool and the day to build, with mentors and volunteers moving between the tables and a jury and prizes at the end. The crew's T-shirts carried the event's line: "Build something the Algarve world needs."

The venue matters too. The day was at the UAlg TEC Campus, on the Penha campus in Faro, and the opening thanked CRIA, the University of the Algarve's division for entrepreneurship and technology transfer, which runs the university's incubator.

Who Algarve Evolution are

António Guerreiro, Algarve Evolution's executive director, opened the day in Portuguese. As I followed him, he described an association that exists to build professional networks in the region, to help new companies start, to help existing ones grow, and to bring companies to the Algarve; one that joins professionals, startups, smaller companies and institutions, and works with the regional bodies, the CCDR Algarve, the university and the science and technology park that runs the building. And a membership that is national and international: people from the Algarve, Portuguese people who lived abroad and came back, and people from elsewhere who have made the Algarve their home.

Its own site tells the story the same way. What began in 2018 as a small group of local entrepreneurs has become what it calls "an open, dynamic, and diverse movement of Algarvians, locals, nationals, and internationals", working to make the Algarve "a Top Southern European innovation hub" and to build an economy "that goes beyond tourism". Its published figures:

• 106 active members, professionals and companies.
• About €100 million in annual turnover across its members, and about 1,000 direct jobs.
• More than 142 events in 2024 and 2025, and 5,597 participants impacted.
• More than 500 students in its entrepreneurship programmes.

It is run by a small team, António Guerreiro as executive director and Sílvia da Paz as project manager, with a board of entrepreneurs from the region's companies.

The work, on three pillars

Education. An entrepreneurship programme with the University of the Algarve, for students on its Penha, Gambelas and Portimão campuses, who develop and present ideas on the Lean Model Canvas. "The Company", with Junior Achievement Portugal, in which secondary-school students create and run a simulated company. And buildathons like today's.

Startups and smaller companies. An incubator with two paths: early-stage incubation, from validation to first customers, coming in 2027; and Founder2Founder, a growth programme for founder-led companies that already have customers and revenue, with experienced mentors and accountability. INOVA Algarve 3.0, a programme in a consortium with NERA, the university, the region's tourism board, CCDR Algarve and others, helping the Algarve's tourism businesses understand AI and robotics, with a published study of what they could mean for the region. And an annual startup showcase in front of experienced professionals and investors.

The ecosystem. Leading the digitalisation and ICT platform for CCDR Algarve, co-creating a regional collaborative plan. Co-organising the Algarve Tech Hub Summit. And the Algarve Digital Innovators network, which has mapped 24 digital communities in the region, from GDG Faro and Flutter Faro to the digital nomad groups of Lagos, Albufeira and Portimão and Algarve AI Agents, with 5,839 members between them, and published a development plan for 2030.

What I like about all of it is the order of things: people first, then the companies they start, then the ecosystem that keeps them here. That is how a region builds an economy beyond its main industry, and it is the work of years, done by a small team and members who run their own companies.

What I told the room

I spoke after António, in English, and I wanted to say one thing clearly: "where you are at now, this is the biggest opportunity of your lifetime." Not the version in the news, where a few models from the United States take over the world. The real one: the chance for anyone in that room "to create a company that is significant, that actually can add value, and not work in Portugal but work across the world".

I gave an example from my own work: "I'm working with a bunch of doctors, and they use Lovable to create the prototypes for their future business." People who are experts in something other than software can now build the first version of their idea themselves, which changes who gets to start a company.

And I gave them the only method I know: "the most important thing for you to do is to build something that somebody else can use, and then you rinse and repeat. That's it. That's literally the loop." It takes learning a new way of working, and the only way to learn it is to ship.

That is why days like this one matter. A day with free credits, mentors and a room of people building is the cheapest way there is to take the first turn of that loop, and Algarve Evolution made it free.

The Algarve and us

I have a long history with the Algarve, from the OWASP Summit there in 2008, and some of our team live there. In the brief for our Web Summit team I wrote that before Lisbon we would hold meetups in the Algarve with the startups and people we know; today was a good reminder of how many of them there are. And it was a good day to have published Lovable with SHarness this morning, on how to keep the local half of a Lovable project inside a boundary, since the room was full of new Lovable projects.

What this does not claim

• Algarve Evolution's figures are its own, as published on its site and read today; we did not audit them.
• António Guerreiro's opening was in Portuguese, and its transcript was garbled; it is paraphrased here, not quoted, and checked against the association's site.
• The participants are not named. The photographs show the room as the day began.
• The projects built on the day, and the jury's winners, were not known when this was written.
• My interest: I was a speaker at the event, and I build tools, including SHarness, that are mentioned in the related articles.

Where this comes from

• My message and the transcript of the opening, with my photographs, kept in admin/notes/2026-10-31__algarve-evolution/memo-01.md in this site's repository; my own words are quoted from the transcript.
• Algarve Evolution's site, read on 31 October 2026: home, about, incubator, innovation hub, INOVA Algarve 3.0, Algarve Digital Innovators, education, startups and SMBs, innovation ecosystem, and the Vibathon Algarve 2026 page.
• Related: the Web Summit team, part two, Lovable with SHarness, Portugal and Europe, 2025, the Open Security Summit and its debt.

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