Google Developers Group (GDG), held the first ever Developers’ Festival, dubbed DevFest-Addis, on January 6, 2018 in Addis Ababa at the U.S. Embassy American Center.

Developers’ Festivals (DevFests) are large, community-run developer events that take place around the globe focused on community building and learning about Google's technologies. The event covered multiple product areas such as Android, Firebase, Google Cloud Platform, Design Sprint, Machine Learning, Mobile Web, and Artificial intelligence.

Speaking at the opening of DevFest-Addis, Embassy Spokesperson Nick Barnett said, “Technology can be a powerful tool for giving people a voice and the means to improve their societies through innovation. The U.S. Embassy is proud to be a partner for this event and hopes that participants will find resources here at our American Center that allow them to continue to pursue their interests.”

The U.S. Embassy American Center at the National Archive and Library Agency is equipped with state-of-the-art resources and serves as an innovation center for budding entrepreneurs, students and young professionals and offers public access to multi-media resources, programs, and technology. The Center was named after African-American Col. John C. Robinson, who was a pioneer flight engineer and the father of Ethiopian modern aviation.

Google Developers Group (GDG) Festival is sponsored by Google and aims at creating a space for software developers, IT enthusiasts to get new ideas, learn from industry experts, engage with peers, use Google Technologies, and other developer tools.