#321: Drones, Robb hearts Jane, Smart Bandages, and more tech

Digest #321

Collaboration seems to be the theme this week.

Jeff Tavangar, President and CEO of The Armada Group, sent us a tip that his Santa Cruz-based company, founded in 1995, has been acquired by a leading national strategic consulting and talent solutions firm focused on technology consulting.

Jane Technologies has tapped Whole Foods co-CEO Walter Robb to serve in an advisory role. You may recall that Jane Tech secured $21M in Series B funding last July.

With up to $16M funding from DARPA, UCSC engineers will lead a collaboration to develop intelligent wound healing bandages. The UCSC team, working with doctors and scientists at other universities “will use a combination of approaches involving bioelectronic devices, machine learning, and regenerative medicine to achieve precise control over the physiological processes involved in wound healing.”

All that said, my favorite article of the week is the Q&A with Chris Bley about what he’s been doing over the last 20 years. If you’ve heard of Monterey Bay Drone, Automation and Robotics Technology (DART), InspecTools, AirSpace Integration, Rope Partner, or Insight Up Solutions, they all carry Bley’s magic touch. Really exciting stuff!

As usual, there's more. Keep scrolling.

Sara Isenberg

Founder, Publisher, Editor-in-Chief

Santa Cruz Tech Beat

http://santacruztechbeat.com

PS: If you want to stay on top of the news without waiting each week for this digest, follow us on Facebook and Twitter . Want to increase website traffic? List your company or organization in our business catalog for only $69 a year. Let's share the love.

Top Stories

Another acquisition. The Armada Group starts a new chapter as they join a leading national strategic consulting and talent solutions firm focused on technology consulting. Read this article .

Join Chris Bley in this exclusive Q&A on his fascinating deep dive into the drone industry. Read this article .

Beyond bandaids: Learn how UCSC engineers are leading a collaboration in developing a smart, wound-healing bandage. Read this article .

Whole Cannabis? Watch as Jane Technologies Founder Socrates Rosenfeld talks about bringing Whole Foods co-CEO Walter Robb into his startup . Read this article .

Startup Sandbox graduate Pinpoint Science joins forces to advance novel nanosensor diagnostics that aim to deliver accurate results in under a minute. Read this article .

Using equity crowdfunding site StartEngine, the founder/CEO of ThoughtFull Toys is appealing to the imagination of potential investors who are passionate about quality toys and tech . Read this article .

Crowd Machine and Sapvix are partnering to expand services in custom application development and integration . Read this article .

Need to lift your mood? UCSC joins a new national “tech for social good” network convened by New America, Ford and Hewlett Foundations . Read this article .

Listen: WGCIT Director Dennis Donohue goes from interviewer to interviewee to speak about what to expect at the upcoming Salinas Valley Ag Tech Summit . Listen to the podcast .

Van Wilder, UCSC's Vice Chancellor of IT, talks about diversity and inclusion. Read this article.

Jobs/Internships

View all job openings.

Post your job. Our jobs page is the most popular page in our website!

Events

Note: Dates, times, and locations are all subject to change. Be sure to check the event's website, just in case!

Wed Mar 4, 6pm: Santa Cruz Works New Tech Meetup, Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History.

Thu Mar 5, 7pm: Steven Levy, Facebook: The Inside Story, at Bookshop Santa Cruz.

Sat Mar 7, 8 am: Annual MESA Day at UCSC, at Jack Baskin School of Engineering, UCSC.

Tue Mar 10, 6pm: Startup Monterey Bay Tech Meetup, Springhill Suites, 215 10th St, Marina.

Wed Mar 11, 5 pm: Diverse Voices 2020 with speaker Tara Hernandez “Data-Driven Diversity: High-Tech Industry’s Best Return on Investment” at Baskin Events Center E2 180, UCSC.