The Planning Committee has developed seven areas of focus for UC Tech 2026.
Enabling Learning & Discovery
(Teaching & Learning · Research · Academic Technology · Student-Facing Tools)
Tag line: Learning and discovery thrive when systems work together and get out of the way.
Core to the mission of the UC system are teaching, learning, and research. They depend on technology that is reliable, flexible, and largely invisible. This track brings together academic technology, research infrastructure, and student-facing platforms to explore how systems can better support curiosity, inquiry, and instruction. Enabling Learning & Discovery focus on removing friction, aligning tools with academic workflows, and strengthening the shared foundations that enable learning and discovery to flourish across disciplines and campuses.
Forging Intelligent Infrastructure
(Artificial Intelligence · Automation · Enterprise Applications · Applied Innovation · Shared Platforms)
Tag line: If it doesn’t reduce toil or increase capacity, it’s not intelligence — it’s a demo.
Intelligence matters most when it changes how work gets done. This track focuses on building and integrating intelligent capabilities across artificial intelligence, automation, enterprise applications, and shared platforms that measurably improves capacity, reliability, and scale. This track encourages experimentation and curiosity while emphasizing the transition from proof-of-concept to production-ready systems that serve the broader UC community. Forging Intelligent Infrastructure is about turning promising ideas into durable, shared capabilities that make the system work better.
Leading Through Change
(Leadership · Change Management · Organizational Design · Culture · Workforce Transition)
Tag line: Change is inevitable. Leadership is a choice.
Change is not just a moment to manage—it is a constant to design for. This track focuses on leadership and change management as ongoing, system-level practices that shape how initiatives are adopted, sustained, and scaled. This track examines the structures, communication strategies, governance models, and cultural habits that enable change to move predictably and humanely through organizations. Leading Through Change emphasizes intentional leadership that treats change as a capability to be built, not just a disruption to be endured.
Running the System
(Service Delivery · Processes & Management · Enterprise Operation)
Tag line: Execution IS innovation when resources are tight.
Operational excellence is essential in a lean environment. This track highlights the practical work of running, maintaining, and improving the systems that the UC community depends on every day. Topics include service delivery, IT operations, process improvement, and management practices that emphasize reliability, efficiency, and clarity. Running the System recognizes that disciplined execution, thoughtful standardization, and shared operational insight are powerful forms of innovation.
Secure by Design
(Cybersecurity · Compliance & Policy · Privacy)
Tag line: Even the best systems fail fast unless they’re secure first.
Security, privacy, and compliance are not just add-ons, they are foundational to sustainable systems. This track centers on building security and policy considerations directly into platforms, processes, and architectures from the start. Sessions address cybersecurity, privacy, regulatory compliance, and risk management as enabling forces that protect trust and allow innovation to scale responsibly. Secure by Design reinforces the idea that resilience and speed are only possible when security is embedded at the core.
Systems of Care
(Healthcare · Student Success · DEI · Community · Institutional Trust)
Tag line: When systems care, people feel it.
Scale often requires that care is delivered through systems and generally long before a person ever speaks to someone. This track focuses on how technology, policy, and service design support healthcare delivery, student success, equity, and community well-being at scale. Sessions explore how technology, policy, and service models shape trust, access, and outcomes—especially for those often in need. Systems of Care emphasizes shared responsibility and the role of coordinated, reliable systems in sustaining a healthy and inclusive university community.
The Human Interface
(UX · Accessibility · Technology-Enhanced Spaces)
Tag line: If it’s not usable, accessible, and humane, it’s not finished.
Technology often succeeds or fails at the point where people encounter it. This track focuses on the design of digital and physical experiences that are intuitive, inclusive, and effective across the UC community. Sessions explore user experience, accessibility, and technology-enhanced environments as a single continuum—where thoughtful design reduces friction, increases adoption, and supports learning, research, work, and connection. The Human Interface challenges us to design systems that respect the full range of human needs, abilities, and contexts.