Answers to the questions we hear most from students, universities, and companies. If yours is not here, email hello@playgroundlab.org.
Playground Lab is a semester-long tech incubator that pairs university students with industry mentors to build one real venture in 16 weeks. A small cross-disciplinary team moves through three phases, ideate, build, and launch, and delivers a working product to a real client. It is located in West Palm Beach, Florida, where each cohort kickoff is held in person.
Students currently enrolled in a degree program, undergraduate, master's, or PhD, from any academic discipline. You need to be available for the full 16-week semester, able to attend the in-person kickoff in West Palm Beach, Florida, and have a computer you can install development tools on. No prior experience with the tools is expected; we screen for evidence you finish things, motivation, and an honest read on your availability.
Academic credit is awarded by your university, not by Playground Lab. The program is structured so your department can approve it for credit hours toward your degree, and we work through the process with you and provide whatever documentation your school needs. Plan to secure your department's approval before the semester begins.
Playground Lab is not a job, and students do not receive a salary. Playground Lab provides the paid licenses for every tool the team works in, so you buy nothing to do the work. What you get is sixteen weeks with industry mentors, a delivered product for your portfolio, and the chance to arrange academic credit through your university. For any other question about cost, email hello@playgroundlab.org.
The program runs a full 16-week semester alongside your regular course load. The rhythm is a short daily standup, a weekly team call, and weekly shipping cycles, with continuous backlog work in between. The kickoff is in person and required, and the semester ends with Demo Day, where the team presents in person.
One real product for a real client: a website, a web application, or a mobile app, depending on the venture. Cohort 01 is building Boujee Pet Care, a premium pet concierge app for gated communities, including the brand, the product, and the iOS and Android apps. Cohort 02's venture is already selected and will be announced at kickoff.
Cohort 02 kicks off in January 2027 in West Palm Beach, Florida, and runs through the Spring 2027 semester. Applications are open now. Email hello@playgroundlab.org with a brief note, your résumé or portfolio, the role that fits you best, and what you want to get better at.
Universities place their students in a semester-long, fully mentored product team, and their departments can approve the work for credit hours. We recruit across computer science, information science, engineering, business, design, marketing, and policy. Partner universities connect their programs to tech mentors, sponsors, and founders across South Florida. Email hello@playgroundlab.org to start the conversation.
Playground Lab is located in West Palm Beach, Florida. Cohort kickoffs and Demo Day are held in person there, and Cohort 01 brought together students from five universities: the University of Tennessee, the University of Kentucky, West Virginia University, the University of Florida, and Florida International University. Teams can continue development remotely after returning to campus.
A sponsor points a cohort at a real problem and gets first access to what the team builds during the semester, along with a first look at a pre-vetted, cross-disciplinary team. Partnerships start at Seed (recognition and Demo Day access), scale to Venture (a dedicated cohort project with weekly briefings and prototype access), and Founding (a multi-semester roadmap with advisory input). Every partnership is scoped to fit; email hello@playgroundlab.org for a 30-minute conversation.
The venture and everything the team builds for it belongs to Playground Lab and the client. Students sign a standard confidentiality and IP agreement at kickoff. What is theirs is the experience, the skills, and a delivered product they can point to; we confirm before Demo Day what can be shown publicly.
Email hello@playgroundlab.org for anything: applications, university partnerships, sponsorships, and press. We read every message.