Where ideas meet execution.
The University Entrepreneurial Lab is the Bravo Family Foundation’s university stage.
UEL meets driven university students in Puerto Rico at the moment they are ready to move from idea to execution, and stays with them until that idea is a product real people use.
What is UEL?
The University Entrepreneurial Lab (UEL) is the Bravo Family Foundation’s university-level entrepreneurship program.
UEL lives inside Puerto Rico’s university ecosystem, built in partnership with the island’s campuses and focused first on the west side of the island. It meets students at the moment they are ready to move from idea to execution, and stays with them until that idea is a startup with the potential to endure.
UEL develops:
- A builder mindset: execution over intention
- Self-management and ownership of your own path
- The ability to build and launch real products with artificial intelligence
- Purpose-driven entrepreneurship rooted in Puerto Rico
- Direct access to local and global industry leaders
Objective
Close the gap between having an idea at university and executing on it in Puerto Rico, by giving driven students the moment, the tools and the networks to carry an idea through to a product real people use.
ONE PIPELINE,
FROM HIGH SCHOOL TO SCALE
UEL is the university stage of the Bravo Family Foundation’s development pipeline. Each stage carries a student one step further along the same arc.
EYES is where the mindset starts. It activates entrepreneurial thinking in high school and prepares students for university.
UEL is where ideas meet execution. It takes a student from an early idea to a product they build, launch and put in front of real users.
REP is where execution becomes scale. It supports founders ready to grow their business.
OUR PROGRAMS
UEL has three subprograms, one for each stage of the journey. Find the one that fits where you are today.
- Driven Entrepreneurs Program
A one-year incubator for students with an idea. DEP helps you validate, build and launch your idea until real users have it in their hands. You don’t need a finished product, only an idea worth building and the drive to execute.
- CoLAB Program
For STEAM students who already code. From August to December, you build and launch a real product with artificial intelligence as your co-builder, for your own startup or for a DEP founder.
- CoLAB Spark
For first-year STEAM students. A four-hour workshop every April where you build something real with artificial intelligence and see how close execution can be.
Benefits
Leaders
UEL participants work with a named advisor, build advisors, and industry leaders drawn from the Bravo Family Foundation network, Rising Entrepreneurs Program portfolio companies, and Puerto Rico’s technology and business community.
Key Dates
DEP — Applications
Opens November 1, 2026. Closes December 11, 2026.
DEP — SELECTION AND ONBOARDING
December 2026 to January 2027
DEP — VALIDATE AND DEFINE
January to May 2027
CoLAB Spark
April 2027
DEP — DESIGN
June to July 2027
COLAB PROGRAM — APPLICATIONS
July 2027
DEP / COLAB PROGRAM — BUILD AND LAUNCH
August to December 2027
DEP / COLAB PROGRAM — DEMO DAY
December 2027
Ready to move from idea to execution?
The University Entrepreneurial Lab is where a university idea stops being an idea. Find the subprogram that fits where you are right now.