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

INNOVATION NEWS

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NOTE: Our blogs are typically “assisted by AI”. We use AI to assist us in research and style the way a human editor would.

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Malina Long 8/24/26 Malina Long 8/24/26

SCWorks New Tech Returns Sept 9, 2026

Join us for an evening of innovation as Santa Cruz-area entrepreneurs share what they're building, from elevated transit systems to sustainable retail hardware to game design and immersive experiences.

Doug Erickson 7/8/26 Doug Erickson 7/8/26

The Gondola-Train-Bus Thing That Wants to Float Over Highway 1

Line Mobility's elevated pod system promises to move ten times more people than a bus at a fraction of rail's cost — and founder Robert wants Santa Cruz to be first in line.

October 8, 2026

The Boring Billions: Why Santa Cruz Ventures Just Backed Farmblox

Santa Cruz Ventures adds Farmblox to its portfolio — a Santa Cruz–headquartered farm automation company that began in maple syrup and now guards California irrigation pumps against a copper theft epidemic.

October 7, 2026

How to Run User Research on a Startup Budget

Santa Cruz local Kelea Liscio has spent 12 years leading UX research strategy, from helping teams take products from 0-1, to helping newly launched features grow to millions of users. She'll share the two questions that matter most at every stage of product development at the CEO Works Luncheon on October 28th.

October 6, 2026

UCSC, Santa Cruz, and Water: The Deal Was Made a Long Time Ago

Santa Cruz promised UCSC water in the 1960s to win the campus, and an appeals court has upheld that deal. The real question isn't whether UCSC gets water. It's how growth can use less.

October 5, 2026

Santa Cruz's Next Economic Opportunity May Already Live Here

Santa Cruz County's greatest economic asset isn't something we need to attract. It's already here: a workforce more educated than California's. The opportunity now is building local jobs worthy of it.

October 3, 2026

When Fiction Gets There First: Sentient and a Real AI Safety Chief Sound the Same Alarm

Tony J. Hughes imagined it. AI safety scientist Geoffrey Irving warns of it. Scott Galloway says Trump and Xi just missed a chance to address it. Fiction and forecast are converging.

Court Throws Out Archer's Counterclaims Against Joby for Good

A federal judge has dismissed Archer Aviation's counterclaims against Santa Cruz-based Joby Aviation a second time, this time with no option to refile. Joby's core trade-secret case keeps moving.

Could the Monterey Bay Region Support a Data Center?

Data centers are becoming a midterm battleground. In the tri-county region, they're a political flytrap: the economics don't work, and our communities' collective will makes them a nonstarter from the start.

Omni's Trevor Heath to CEOs: Bet Big on AI, But Don't Stop Hiring

Omni's Trevor Heath told CEO Works luncheon attendees how AI powered the ex-Looker startup's 10x scale-up, and why governance, semantic layers, and human judgment still matter.

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.