July 16, 2026
08:30am - 3:30pm
Collins Square Events Centre

Melbourne AI Engineering and Infrastructure Summit 2026

Shape the future of AI and join industry leaders for hands-on sessions and insights on scalable AI systems and high-performance infrastructure.

Melbourne AI Engineering and Infrastructure Summit 2026
Join us for the second edition of the AI Engineering and Infrastructure Summit!

We're bringing together AI engineers, data scientists, and technology leaders to explore scalable AI systems and high-performance infrastructure.

Discover best practices for deploying AI models at scale, optimising data pipelines for machine learning workloads, and implementing continuous integration and deployment. Dive into Edge AI, discuss ethics in AI engineering, and debate whether cloud or on-prem solutions are best for AI development. Engage in interactive sessions, real-world case studies, panel discussions, and debates to stay ahead of emerging trends in AI engineering.

Key Themes:

  1. Building Scalable AI Systems
  2. Leveraging AI modernisation to transform applications and systems
  3. High-Performance AI Infrastructure
  4. Deploying AI Models at Scale
  5. Optimising Data Pipelines for ML Workloads
  6. Implementing Continuous Integration and Deployment
  7. Edge AI
  8. Ethics in AI Engineering
  9. Cloud vs. On-Prem: What Is Best for AI Development

Register now to secure your place and stay informed as the agenda develops.

Our Speakers

Akshay Kumar

Akshay Kumar

Principal Systems and Data Engineer - AI/ML
Louiza Hutt

Louiza Hutt

Group General Manager - CyberSecurity Network and Infrastructure
Elma O'Sullivan-Greene

Elma O'Sullivan-Greene

Principal Machine Learning
Fernando Mourão

Fernando Mourão

Head of Responsible AI
Andrew Cantos

Andrew Cantos

Executive Manager – AI Research Engineering
Amr Hassan

Amr Hassan

Director, Emerging Technologies nd Program Director
Nicola Pastorello

Nicola Pastorello

Global Lead Advanced Analytics
Fatime Hoblos

Fatime Hoblos

Engineer Identity Access Management
Simon Hatfield

Simon Hatfield

Head of Data Platforms and Engineering
Prem Pillai

Prem Pillai

Head of Applied AI
Rishabh Gupta

Rishabh Gupta

Head of AI Safety
Register Now

Register Now

To receive speaker and program updates and secure your seat!

Agenda

8:30 AM
Registration Opens & Networking Breakfast

Beat the rush and join us early for complimentary barista-made coffee and breakfast.

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9:15 AM
Welcome & Opening Remarks
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9:20 AM
Opening Keynote: Building AI That Lasts: What Changes When AI Becomes Core to Your Business

Most organisations have moved beyond pilots. AI is now part of products, operations, and customer experiences and the challenge is no longer Can we build it? but Can we keep it reliable, trusted, and useful as the business evolves?

This keynote draws on experience from  cross functional teams, with one key idea: lasting AI isn’t built once it’s designed to evolve.

We’ll cover:

  • What changes when AI shifts from project to core product
  • Why trust in AI is now a business issue, not just a technical one
  • How to balance speed with the discipline needed at scale
  • The leadership mindset needed to keep AI valuable over time

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9:40 AM
Keynote
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10:10 AM
Panel: Ethical and Responsible AI Engineering

As AI moves into real-world systems, responsibility must be built into the technology itself, not added later. Engineering teams are now expected to design AI that is fair, transparent, and accountable, while still delivering innovation at speed.

This panel explores how organisations are embedding ethical considerations into AI engineering, from bias mitigation and model transparency to governance and accountability.

  • Identifying and reducing bias in AI systems
  • Improving transparency and explainability in models
  • Embedding accountability and governance into AI development

Fernando Mourão
Head of Responsible AI, SEEK
Fatime Hoblos
Engineer Identity Access Management, Kmart
Louiza Hutt
Group General Manager - CyberSecurity Network and Infrastructure, JB Hi-Fi
Rishabh Gupta
Head of AI Safety, Suncorp Group
10:40 AM
How I Solved... Optimising Data Pipelines for Machine Learning Workloads

A case study on designing efficient data pipelines to handle large-scale data ingestion, processing, and storage for AI applications.

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10:55 AM
Morning Tea and Networking
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11:25 AM
Audience Activity

In this innovative session, attendees will be faced with a series of scenarios that they may face in their roles. Attendees will discuss the possible courses of action with their peers to consider the ramifications of each option before logging their own course of action.

Results will be tallied and analysed by our session facilitator and results will impact the way the group moves through the activity.

Will we collectively choose the right course of action?

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11:40 AM
How We Engineered Guardrails for AI Agents in Production

As we deployed AI agents to automate accounting workflows in a highly regulated environment, we quickly learned that model-level safeguards weren’t enough. This session explores how we built a layered safety chain, spanning the user’s role, the agent, and the underlying services and data, to manage blast radius, permissions and autonomy in production. We’ll share how targeted beta rollouts and deliberate UI design helped define clear boundaries between essential human oversight and safe, scalable automation.

Elma O'Sullivan-Greene
Principal Machine Learning, MYOB
11:55 AM
Keynote: From Prototype to Production: What It Takes to Ship AI in Critical Infrastructure

AI that looks brilliant in a demo often struggles in the real world. In this keynote, I’ll share what a research engineering team learned translating promising AI prototypes into practical organisational capability, and why success depends less on model choice than on delivery discipline, platform thinking, governance, and trust.

  • Why data, workflows, governance, and operating model matter more than most teams realise
  • How to run fast, safe experimentation without undermining reliability or security
  • What organisations need to get right before AI can deliver lasting operational value

Andrew Cantos
Executive Manager – AI Research Engineering, nbn Australia
12:10 PM
Panel: AI Observability and Reliability: How Do You Know Your AI Is Actually Working?

AI systems don’t fail like traditional software. They degrade, drift, and behave unpredictably, making them harder to monitor and harder to trust. Traditional observability tools weren’t designed for probabilistic systems, leaving teams without a clear way to measure reliability in production.

This panel explores how engineering teams are building observability into AI systems, from tracking model behaviour and drift to monitoring end-to-end workflows across multi-model and agent-based environments.

    • What “reliability” actually means for AI systems in production
    • How teams are extending observability beyond logs, metrics, and traces
    • Monitoring model drift, hallucinations, and unexpected behaviour
    • Observability across multi-model and agentic systems
  • Prem Pillai
    Head of Applied AI, Block
    Nicola Pastorello
    Global Lead Advanced Analytics, BlueScope Enterprise
    12:40 PM
    Roundtable Discussions

    Select a topic of discussion and engage in an interactive roundtable discussion with a group of your like-minded peers.

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    1:30 PM
    Lunch and Networking
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    2:20 PM
    QuickFire Quiz: Test Your Knowledge Against Your Peers

    Put your knowledge to the test in this fast-paced quiz covering real-world trivia, key concepts, and emerging trends. Compete for bragging rights - and a travel voucher - as the top scorer takes the crown.

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    2:35 PM
    Keynote: Designing Zero Trust for Agentic AI: Securing Autonomous Systems with Service Mesh

    As AI agents become autonomous, traditional security models break down. This session explores how Zero Trust principles and service mesh architectures can secure agent-to-agent and agent-to-service interactions, enforce policy in real time, and control blast radius without slowing innovation.

    • Treat AI agents as dynamic identities
    • Enforce policy at runtime
    • Scale safely without slowing down

    Akshay Kumar
    Principal Systems and Data Engineer - AI/ML, Commonwealth Bank
    2:55 PM
    Think Tank : The AI Infrastructure Dilemma: Scale, Cost, or Control. What Do You Optimise For?

    A lively session on how organisations are navigating the growing pressure on AI infrastructure. From GPU shortages and rising cloud costs to sustainability targets and performance demands, engineering leaders are being forced to make trade-offs with no clear right answer.

    This interactive think tank puts the question directly to the audience. Participants vote live on a series of real-world scenarios, explore the results together, and vote again as perspectives shift through the discussion.

    • What is your biggest constraint in scaling AI today?
    • Where should most AI workloads run long-term?
    • If AI infrastructure costs doubled, what would you prioritise?
    • Where do you see the biggest hidden cost in AI infrastructure?
    • What will matter most in AI infrastructure decisions over the next 3 years?

    Amr Hassan
    Director, Emerging Technologies nd Program Director, Monash University
    Simon Hatfield
    Head of Data Platforms and Engineering, EBOS
    3:25 PM
    Networking Drinks Hour

    Unwind with your peers for a couple of drinks on us!

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    4:30 PM
    Event Closed
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    Our event sponsors

    For sponsorship opportunities, please get in touch with Danny Perry, danny@clutchgroup.co

    Past Speaker Highlights

    Kavitha Dhanraj

    Former Chief Data Officer, EBOS Group

    Ryk Neethling

    Chief Technology Officer, Send Payments

    Amr Hassan

    Director, Emerging Technologies nd Program Director, Monash University

    Fernando Mourão

    Head of Responsible AI, SEEK

    Fahad Najeeb

    Head of Data Engineering APAC, Bupa

    Kerry Halupka

    Head of Machine Learning (Teams & Education), Canva

    Leonardo Borges

    Senior Director Engineering AI and Digital, Optus

    Past Sponsors

    Event Location

    Collins Square Events Centre

    Level 5, Tower 2/727 Collins St, Docklands VIC 3008
    Melbourne AI Engineering and Infrastructure Summit 2026

    About Clutch

    Hyper-Niche Content

    Our conferences are specific to niche sub-sets of the technology industry, drilling down into the biggest issues, challenges and market trends facing tomorrow's leaders.

    Collaboration first

    Enjoy ample networking opportunities, roundtable discussions, interactive group sessions and real-world case-studies that arm attendees with actionable insights.

    Dynamic & Bite-Size formats

    No more death-by-PowerPoint. Our events are short, sharp and collaborative with a variety of session formats and a 3/4 day commitment to ensure returns on your time investment.

    Get In Touch

    Contact our event team for any enquiry

    Danny Perry

    Director of Sales
    For sponsorship opportunities.
    danny@clutchgroup.co

    Lili Munar

    Director of Client Relations
    For guest and attendee enquiries.
    lilibeth@clutchgroup.co

    Steph Tolmie

    Director of Conference Production
    For speaking opportunities & content enquiries.
    stephanie@clutchevents.co

    Taylor Stanyon

    Director of Operations
    For event-related enquiries.
    taylor@clutchgroup.co