Building the digital infrastructure for APCG 2026 Saudi Arabia
Reflections on building the submission, review, and payment systems for the 19th Asia Pacific Conference on Giftedness (APCG2026) using React, .NET Core, and Amazon Payfort.
In February 2026, the University of Business and Technology (UBT) in Jeddah hosted the prestigious 19th Asia Pacific Conference on Giftedness (APCG2026). Over five days, the conference convened more than 1,000 global experts, policymakers, and educators from 40 countries to discuss the future of gifted education.
I served as the Technical Lead & Full-Stack Engineer for the event. I independently architected APCG 2026’s full digital platform — the conference website (React/TypeScript), OpenConf paper submission, registration, PayFort payments, and digital ID generation — supporting 1,000+ attendees from 40+ countries at the 19th Asia Pacific Conference on Giftedness. Seeing delegates use the system smoothly was the ultimate reward for months of hard engineering work.
You can visit the live site at apcg2026-saudiarabia.org or read the detailed design breakdown in the APCG2026 Conference Platform Case Study.
The Technical Backbone
Building an event platform of this scale on a fixed timeline required a highly disciplined stack and automated workflows:
- Frontend: Built with React and Vite to ensure instant load times and responsive layouts for mobile and desktop users.
- Backend APIs: Powered by .NET Core, providing secure, enterprise-grade endpoints for registration, digital ID generation, and user management.
- Academic Submissions: Integrated OpenConf to handle complex peer-review pipelines, author submissions, and referee reviews.
- Global Payments: Integrated Amazon Payfort to securely handle multi-currency credit card transactions for international attendees.
To accelerate frontend prototyping and user interface design iterations, I leveraged modern AI tools including Cursor, v0 by Vercel, Gemini AI, and ChatGPT. This allowed us to build custom components in record time without compromising design quality.
Official Media Coverage
The conference received widespread recognition for its digital readiness and role in showcasing regional talent:
- Arab News: Highlighted the conference’s agenda on educational innovation and its global reach. Read the full coverage on Arab News.
- Saudi Press Agency (SPA): Covered the highlights of the conference sessions and Saudi students’ achievements. Read the official release on SPA.
Below is one of the official updates shared during the conference:
I shared my personal reflections and tech stack overview directly on LinkedIn: