Join us for a learning and networking opportunity focused on Women in Venture Capital, featuring a panel of industry leaders and led by Executive Champions Hilary Bryant and May Roen, hosted at Cal State Monterey Bay.

On May 1, the R. Blitzer Gallery supports STEAM with Color Stories, the 2026 CODA digital artists exhibition, juried by photographer Shelby Graham, plus a First Friday reception and student meet-and-greets.

UC Santa Cruz researchers connected lab-grown neural tissue to a Cartpole simulation and showed it can learn through adaptive electrical feedback. Performance improved with targeted stimulation, depended on synaptic signaling, and revealed short-term, circuit-level learning in living systems.

Santa Cruz biotech Unnatural Products landed a Novartis partnership worth up to $1.7B to discover next-generation macrocyclic cardiovascular therapies, pairing UNP’s AI-guided discovery engine with Novartis’ clinical, manufacturing, and commercialization muscle.

Open Culture Science, a startup born at UC Santa Cruz, is transforming traditional cell culture by automating tedious lab work and creating a shareable, programmable ecosystem for biological research.

On Feb. 7, Santa Cruz and Monterey students tackled Monterey Chapter MATHCOUNTS. In Santa Cruz’s first year competing, they swept team, individual, and countdown awards, advancing to state March 28, and now host a Pi Day fundraiser March 14.

Scotts Valley-based Heron Power just raised $140M to ramp production of solid-state transformers that simplify and modernize the electric grid for data centers, solar, and batteries. Expect expansion momentum and more local job openings soon.

UCSC students, supported by CIED, earned third place at the 2026 VCIC West Regional in Provo on February 7. Their best finish yet reflects a growing, repeatable investor-training pipeline, rigorous selection, coaching, and due diligence.

Parallel Flight Technologies and Alpha Unmanned Systems are collaborating to develop a heavy-fuel version of the Firefly UAS for U.S. Navy research, aiming to boost endurance, lift capacity, and logistics compatibility for demanding missions.

In an era of bad news, employees feel anxious and powerless. This piece argues companies can turn values into community impact through alignment, partnerships, and outcome tracking that turns volunteering into agency, hope, and solutions.

Join Santa Cruz Works New Tech for networking at 6:00 pm with live music, food, drinks, and real conversation. At 7:00 pm, catch rapid-fire startup demos from Innovation Within, BrandCapsule, Radi8, Activity Ally, and The Host Mindset. Sponsored by Comcast Business and Wynn Capital.

Join Santa Cruz Works March 6, 2026 for a free, fast-paced webinar with world-renowned author Tony J. Hughes (Sentient) and moderator Craig Vachon. Explore how AI is reshaping humanity, agency, and responsibility. Bring questions.

PassportOS which housed Santa Cruz Works community platform, is shutting down.

Santa Cruz Launchpad is back and its even bigger and better this year!

UCSC Professor Gary Griggs and 2025 Titan Dan Haifley joined Neil Pearlberg to discuss Santa Cruz West Side climate change, offshore oil drilling, the "new" Santa Cruz Downtown, and more.

Doug Erickson, a UCSC English and Latin Literature grad, reflects on Anthropic co-founder Daniela Amodei’s ABC News interview, arguing AI makes empathy, communication, and humanities-trained judgment essential as startups shift from coding to coordination.

Activity Ally is a new Santa Cruz startup helping parents find and book kids’ activities in one place. It aims to replace frantic searching, outdated websites, and blurry flyers with a simple, local hub for families.

Tempest has partnered with Atlantic Packaging and Cruz Foam to create a compostable and recyclable protection system.

Davenport’s idle Cemex plant has scarred a stunning stretch of coast for decades. A new proposal would clean it up and turn it into a town center with services and housing, testing whether California can actually build.