Santa Cruz doesn’t need to become Silicon Valley to matter. As our startup ecosystem grows, the real opportunity is to build world-class companies while staying rooted in the character and values that make this place unique.

Podcast host Jonathan Hicken and Save Our Shores director Katie Thompson unpack offshore drilling threats, explain California’s “Blue Wall” of local ordinances limiting onshore infrastructure, and share ways communities can comment, organize, and protect ecosystems.

When the city's bridge reconstruction plan threatened to strangle Murray Street businesses with one-way traffic, owner and organizer Patrice Boyle rallied the community, launched a petition, and won — restoring two-way access for the neighborhood.

Anthropic refused to loosen Claude’s military guardrails, so the Trump administration ordered a six-month federal phaseout and branded it a “supply chain risk.” OpenAI promptly landed a Pentagon deal. The backlash boosted Claude to No. 1.

Federal agencies are fast-tracking offshore oil drilling and deep-sea mining, though no commercial DSM exists. BOEM is shortening permits and public input. Santa Cruz should update ordinances to block infrastructure and protect ecosystems and economy.

CarbonBridge is shifting from R&D mode to early commercialization: 2025 ARPA-E reimbursement billing helped fund operations, and 2026 begins with first product sales to Lawrence Berkeley Lab (via BEAM Circular). Fundraising and pilot-site planning remain key bottlenecks.

Joby’s Q4 2025 update shows certification momentum accelerating, manufacturing scaling, and commercial timelines sharpening toward 2026 passenger flights. With strong liquidity and expanding production capacity, Joby is positioning Santa Cruz-built air taxis to move from test flights to real-world routes.

Chaminade Resort & Spa has renovated all 156 guestrooms and suites with EDG’s contemporary mission-style design, blending natural materials and Santa Cruz photography. Santa Cruz Works members get major perks: 25% rooms, 50% meeting rentals, 20% team-building.

Parallel Flight Technologies has received FAA approval to begin commercial operations of its heavy-lift hybrid drone in the U.S., marking a major step forward for the La Selva Beach–based company as it prepares to deploy its Firefly system for wildfire response, logistics, and other industrial missions.

Connected University is a Santa Cruz experiment that reimagines online publishing as an embodied learning space, not a distraction machine. Each release is a concise multimedia handbook—readable in 20–30 minutes and paired with audio, ambient music, visual design, and centering practices—shared openly through voluntary stewardship rather than paywalls.

Finding the right accelerator can change your startup's trajectory, but with options like YC, SkyDeck, Techstars, and 500 Global, how do you choose? This guide breaks down the major players, explains where Santa Cruz Accelerates fits into the ecosystem, and helps you determine if you are ready to apply or need more preparation first.

Flip helps local businesses grow by building simple systems that connect social media, customer data, and automation — turning everyday online attention into steady, trackable revenue without paid ads.

UC Santa Cruz’s Innovation Catalyst program is advancing breakthrough research in multi-virus diagnostics and energy-efficient electronics.

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.