Santa Cruz Works News — Updates on Events, Community Stories & Local Innovation

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X Academy Robotics Teams Secure 4th Consecutive Trip to World Championship

The Hephaestus Robotics Team, a 25-member high school team in the Santa Cruz COE X Academy Robotics Clubs, earned first place in the Ranger Class at the 2026 MATE Monterey Bay Regional ROV Competition on Saturday, April 25, securing a spot at the 2026 MATE ROV World Championship on June 25-27, 2026.

Doug Erickson 3/24/22 Doug Erickson 3/24/22

Young Blue Tech Entrepreneurs Building ROVs in Harvey West

Santa Cruz high schoolers will compete at the 21st annual MATE ROV Competition. You can help them!

October 1, 2026

RoboticsCats' AURA Foresight Team Takes Third Place in $11M XPRIZE Wildfire Competition

Santa Cruz Accelerates alum RoboticsCats and its international consortium, AURA Foresight, earned third place and $500,000 in XPRIZE Wildfire's Autonomous Wildfire Response track, capping a four-year journey from team formation to podium.

September 30, 2026

Santa Cruz Is Hiring: Joby, Feanix, Paystand and More Have Open Roles

Santa Cruz companies are hiring. Explore current openings at Joby Aviation, Feanix Bio, Paystand, Swellcycle, and other local employers across tech, manufacturing, sustainability, and more.

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Vote to Rename Titans of Tech!

Vote on your top three names for the rebranded Santa Cruz Works Titans event. Voting closes Sunday, with the new name announced Monday.

Where the Mayoral Candidates Stand on the Joby Agreement

Last week SC Works published an article about the Santa Cruz Mayor's race and the City's partnership with Joby Aviation. It generated interest but also some confusion. One candidate expressed concern about how we characterized her stance. We apologize if there was confusion. To give residents a clear view of where the candidates agree and disagree, we asked them to respond to the same Yes or No questions.

September 29, 2026

Open Culture Science and the Case for Biology You Can Talk To

At NeuMoS 2026 in Zurich, Santa Cruz's Open Culture Science soft-launched an AI-run lab platform that turns plain-language requests into living experiments, and made a serious case for leading a new field.

SUP Giveaway Winner Announced

Santa Cruz Works recently hosted a giveaway with the SUP Shack at the Santa Cruz Harbor. Learn who the winner of our SUP Shack giveaway is!

September 28, 2026

Philippe Kahn's Fullpower-AI Earns ISO 42001 Certification for Trustworthy AI

Santa Cruz legend Philippe Kahn's Fullpower-AI has earned ISO/IEC 42001:2023 certification, the global benchmark for responsible AI governance, proving that local innovation can lead on trust as well as technology.

War Bros Didn’t Always Rule Silicon Valley

Steven Levy rejects claims that Silicon Valley was always driven by money and military contracts, arguing countercultural idealism built the modern tech industry—and that denying it lets today's defense-tech "War Bros" off the hook.

UC Santa Cruz’s Colligan Clinical Diagnostic Pediatric Cancer Lab Earns Gold Standard Accreditation

UC Santa Cruz's Colligan Clinical Diagnostic Laboratory has earned CAP accreditation, which is widely regarded as the gold standard for clinical laboratory quality.