Key Stages

The entrepreneurship@SFU initiative is divided into three key stages in the process of developing student entrepreneurs after the students have attained the required foundations in their field of interest. The key stages are capture, protection and creation that will cover entrepreneurial development, product development, financial management, business operations, and venture protection and commercialization.

Along with entrepreneurship development, the academic courses allow the students to learn business concepts in the process of analyzing their own products and building a sustainable business enterprise. Students move toward excellence in their functional disciplines and gain insights for improving their entrepreneurial skills.

The workshops, seminars and guest presenters typically supplement the students’ needs for additional real life experiences and fresh information. Once the students are accepted into the Capstone Project, the students are assigned to teams. At the workshop, each team will be responsible for analyzing one of their company's products. In the prework period, they are encouraged to identify relevant documents that will help them compare the performance and prices of their product against competitors.

Supervisors and mentors provide guidance and leadership to the students throughout their development in the entrepreneurship project. Students will organize and record their accomplishments within each stage and generate a standard set of measurement for those accomplishments. The availability of the supervisors and mentors ensures that the process is systematic, documented, repeatable, and intuitive.

Students have the opportunity to continue with their business enterprise going forward. The tables below outline the time, stages, courses and activities required to complete the proposed Certificate in Technological Entrepreneurship.

Stage	Courses Required by Engineering Student	Courses Required by Business Student	Activities	Learning Outcomes (Summary)
Years 1 and 2
Foundation (Entrepreneur Development)	ENSC 182 – Mechatronics Design 1	ENSC 182 – Mechatronics Design 1 or CMPT 165 Introduction to Multimedia	Course Work Workshops Competitions Guest Speakers	Fundamentals of business and economics. Awareness to potential commercial opportunities
Year 3
Capture (Idea Formation, Product Viability and Feasibility Study)	ENSC 311 - Business of Engineering I and, either BUS 314 - New Venture Finance or BUS 443 New Product Design	BUS 338 - Foundation of Innovation and, either BUS 314 - New Venture Finance or BUS 443 - New Product Design	Course Work Workshops Competitions Networking Sessionss Guest Speakers	Product Commercialization and legal framework requirements for new business venture Business idea formation and viability Management theories and corporate structure
Year 4
Protection (Prototype Development/ Business Plan/Team Development)	ENSC 312 Business of Engineering II and ENSC 305 Project Documentations and Group Dynamics and ENSC 441 Capstone Design Technical Project I	BUS 342 - Foundations of Entrepreneurship	Course Work Workshops Seminars Competitions Networking Sessionss Guest Speakers	Concepts of project management Budgeting and value analysis Communication and negotiation Financial accounting Business plan
Create (Market Identification/Pre-launch Activities)	ENSC 406 - Engineering Laws and Ethics and ENSC 442 Capstone Design Technical Project II (credit awarded for participating in the initiative)	BUS 477 - Entrepreneurship Incubator I (credit awarded for participating in the initiative)	Course Work Entrepreneur Mentor Research and Develop Business Plan Workshops Seminars Competitions Networking Sessionss Guest Speakers	Business Set-up and Operations Commercialization Financial management Promotions and strategies
Create (Market Identification/Pre-launch Activities)	BUS 4XX - Entrepreneurship Incubator II (required fall semester of 5th year)