Introduction
The Machine Learning Developers Summit, known as MLDS, returns to Bengaluru on 25 and 26 February 2027 for its 9th edition, organised by Analytics India Magazine (AIM), which has hosted it since 2019.
The 2027 themes are Agentic AI, meaning AI systems that reason, use tools, remember and act, and Forward Deployed Engineering, the work of taking AI into a customer's systems and running it there until it delivers results. AIM describes MLDS as India's largest agentic AI conference for developers, and 2027 is the first edition to put forward deployed engineering at the centre of the programme.
The summit is aimed at practitioners: the hard part of applied AI now is production, getting agents to work reliably inside real businesses.
Event Overview
MLDS 2027 Bengaluru runs on Thursday 25 February and Friday 26 February 2027, from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM IST each day, at the NIMHANS Convention Centre on Hosur Road. Each pass covers one city and both days there.
The 2026 edition drew more than 2,000 attendees, as published by AIM, and the 2027 plan aims for more than 3,000 attendees across both cities combined and more than 100 speakers, though those are organiser goals rather than confirmed results.
The programme mixes keynotes, talk tracks, hands-on workshops, an AI Expo and the AI Awards, and a second edition follows in Hyderabad on 4 and 5 March 2027 with the same themes and prices.
What to Expect
Expect two days focused on building and shipping AI, with keynotes, talk tracks, a workshop track, an expo with demos, and the AI Awards.
The workshop track runs from 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM on both days and is included in the Learning and VIP passes, while the expo and demos are included in every pass.
The forward deployed engineering content covers five focus areas: discovery on site, integration, going live, owning the outcome after launch, and the FDE career in India. A hackathon, a paper track and Code Craze ran at past editions, but none had been announced for 2027 when this entry was verified. The detailed agenda had not been published yet either.
Who Should Attend
The organiser lists CXOs, AI and ML engineers, data scientists, enterprise leaders, founders, researchers, students and AI product builders among the audience, and the 2026 audience was mostly developers and engineers with 5 to 15 years of experience.
ML engineers moving from models to agents will find the agentic AI content directly relevant, and enterprise and IT services teams who deploy AI for clients will recognise their daily work in the forward deployed engineering theme. The sessions assume a working familiarity with machine learning, so this is a conference for practitioners rather than casual observers.
Key Highlights
- 9th edition of MLDS, running since 2019, organised by Analytics India Magazine.
- Two 2027 themes: Agentic AI and Forward Deployed Engineering, the second new for 2027.
- Two full days in Bengaluru, 25 and 26 February 2027, at NIMHANS Convention Centre.
- Workshop track daily from 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM, in Learning and VIP passes.
- AI Expo and demos confirmed for 2027 and included in every pass.
- Group discounts of 10, 20 and 30 percent for orders of 3 to 5, 6 to 10, and 11 or more passes.
Agenda and Speakers
No 2027 speaker had been announced when this entry was verified on 13 November 2026, and the detailed agenda had not been published.
The organiser's target is more than 100 speakers across both cities, and reveals will be published on the official Speakers page. The confirmed shape is keynotes, talk tracks, the workshop track from 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM each day, the AI Expo and the AI Awards, and the organiser is running an open call, FDE Frontline, for practitioners to pitch a talk on forward deployed engineering or agentic AI.
Registration Information
Passes are sold on the official MLDS tickets page, per person and per city, covering both days in that city, with prices quoted before 18 percent GST.
Early bird prices run until 15 December 2026, 11:59 PM IST: Standard 6,000 INR (7,080 INR including GST) for talks, keynotes and lunch on both days; Learning 12,000 INR (14,160 INR including GST), which adds the workshop track; and VIP 20,000 INR (23,600 INR including GST), which adds a 90 minute roundtable, front-row seating, the platinum lounge and six more extras, including a one year AIM digital subscription.
Regular prices apply from 16 December 2026 to 31 January 2027: 8,000 INR Standard, 16,000 INR Learning and 26,000 INR VIP. Late prices apply from 1 February 2027 until 9:00 AM IST on 25 February: 10,000 INR Standard, 20,000 INR Learning and 32,000 INR VIP. Group discounts of 10, 20 and 30 percent apply for orders of 3 to 5, 6 to 10, and 11 or more passes, counted across pass types and both cities.
Venue and Location
The Bengaluru edition is held at the NIMHANS Convention Centre, Hosur Road, Lakkasandra, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560029, a venue that has hosted the summit before. Lunch on both days is included in every pass.
Why This Event Matters
The centre of gravity in applied AI has shifted from what a model can do to whether an agent can be trusted inside a business: wired into real systems, evaluated properly, guarded against failure, and run at a cost that makes sense. The summit's own history shows it, with the share of session titles about agents rising from 3 percent in 2023 to 53 percent in 2026, as published on the official site.
Forward deployed engineering is the job title that has grown around that shift: engineers who embed with a customer, build and connect the AI system there, and stay responsible for the outcome after launch. Indian IT firms, AI labs and AI native startups are all hiring for the role, and MLDS 2027 is the first edition of the summit to treat it as a headline theme.
Event Details
- Event: MLDS 2027 Bengaluru (Machine Learning Developers Summit, 9th edition)
- Dates: Thursday 25 February to Friday 26 February 2027
- Time: 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM IST each day
- Venue: NIMHANS Convention Centre, Hosur Road, Lakkasandra, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560029
- City: Bengaluru, Karnataka
- Format: In-person
- Organiser: Analytics India Magazine (AIM)
- Themes: Agentic AI, Forward Deployed Engineering
- Passes (early bird, before 18 percent GST): Standard 6,000 INR, Learning 12,000 INR, VIP 20,000 INR
- Early bird deadline: 15 December 2026, 11:59 PM IST
- Registration deadline: 15 Dec 2026 (early bird ends; late passes on sale until 25 Feb 2027, 9:00 AM IST)
- Speakers and agenda: Not yet announced
- Sister edition: MLDS 2027 Hyderabad, 4 to 5 March 2027 (venue to be confirmed)
Last verified: 13 November 2026.
