Santa Cruz HardTech launches to support county hardware founders

Santa Cruz HardTech, a program of the Santa Cruz Small Business Development Center, has launched to organize and support founders and manufacturers building physical products in the county. The initiative covers ten focus sectors: robotics and physical AI, biotech and genomics, medical devices, clean energy and hydrogen, advanced materials, agtech, marine and ocean tech, aerospace and aviation, semiconductors and photonics, and sensors and IoT. The core offering is free, confidential one-on-one advising, funded by the U.S. Small Business Administration and the State of California. No equity is taken and there is no cap on the number of sessions. Founders are matched with an advisor suited to the problem at hand, whether that is costing a physical product, weighing an SBIR grant against an SBA 504 loan, or working through FDA pathways for a medical device. Advisors have backgrounds in manufacturing process improvement, venture and angel financing, and university technology transfer. Alongside advising, the program is assembling supporting infrastructure: makerspace access, supply chain and contract manufacturing connections, readiness for non-dilutive capital such as SBIR/STTR and state and federal manufacturing grants, and sector-specific technical training. A biotech commercialization deep dive is planned for later in 2026. Near-term events include a HardTech and Robotics Founders Meetup on Thursday, September 10, from 6:00 to 8:00 PM at Idea Fab Labs in the Wrigley Building, with the next installment on Thursday, October 8. A free SBDC pitch program run with Enrichers and led locally by advisor Sebastien Torre begins Tuesday, September 22 at 9:00 AM, pairing four online pitch sessions with investor pitches in San Francisco and Palo Alto; applications close September 21. Membership is free and includes a company directory, a members-only Discord, and advance notice of trainings. The program is designed to link into the county's existing ecosystem, including UC Santa Cruz, Cabrillo College, Santa Cruz Works, the Workforce Development Board, and county economic development. The stated aim is to keep hardware founders, and the suppliers and higher-wage jobs that follow them, in Santa Cruz County rather than losing them to Silicon Valley or Los Angeles.