A good idea rarely becomes a sustainable, scalable business on its own without mentors who teach from experience, investors willing to take a chance, customers willing to offer honest feedback, and a community ready to support the process.

Responding to the intricacies of this dynamic, LAU Engine, the entrepreneurship hub at the university, introduced LAUNCH, its new flagship program, on June 30, 2026, where 15 teams with ideas for startups came together at the Beirut campus to begin a 16-week, high-intensity structured course designed to prepare them for growth, investment, and international scaling.

The opening ceremony brought together the masterminds behind the entrepreneurial drive, who networked and showcased their ideas to university leadership, deans, faculty, staff, and industry partners, marking the start of this intensive chapter ahead.

Welcoming the attendees, LAU President Chaouki T. Abdallah emphasized that innovation and entrepreneurship must become a “national effort,” pointing to the participation of many founders from outside LAU as a reflection of that vision.

The president spoke about the longstanding challenge of talented Lebanese graduates seeking opportunities abroad, describing programs like LAUNCH as a way to create new possibilities at home. He referred to the program as a spark he hoped would grow into a wider culture of entrepreneurship among LAU’s students, graduates, and alumni, and Lebanon at large.

“Tonight is not about the launch of the startup accelerator,” said LAU Engine Executive Director Evan Fakhoury. “It’s about the launch of a different expectation at LAU.”

That expectation, he explained, will be measured by whether “founders are addressing real problems, engaging with customers, creating products people need, and building companies capable of attracting investment and generating jobs.” The objective, affirmed Dr. Fakhoury, is long-term, sustainable growth.

The ventures of the inaugural cohort reflected the diversity of Lebanon’s emerging entrepreneurship landscape, spanning sectors such as B2B supply-chain platforms, food tech, deep tech, fintech, analytics, consumer hardware, and vertical AI (general-purpose AI) for local businesses.

The program runs across four phases, each spanning four weeks and pairing a dedicated one-on-one mentor with weekly workshops led by trainers selected for domain mastery, defined deliverables, and trainer-tracked Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

Backed by an embedded venture-capital partner, the program culminates in Invest Day and a three-week New York City residency, supported by a Technology Transfer Office across LAU’s three campuses in Beirut, Byblos, and NYC.

The ceremony concluded with the first cohort participants reciting the Founders Pledge, a commitment to build their companies with integrity, learn from inevitable setbacks, and create value that extends beyond the program itself.