BCBusiness

POOYA NABEI What does entrepreneurship education look like at SFU? What we're doing here with entrepreneurship is building a continuum, from mindset change and education, through to early-stage incubation and on to growing and scaling ventures. Is it possible to teach entrepreneurship? Absolutely. The model of education that we're putting forward is almost incubation in the classroom. You're learn- ing to be an entrepreneur, work on a team, develop that mindset, work ethic, and build your networks really early. The students come up with a prob- lem they want to solve, and get together in interdisciplin- ary teams and get out into the world and come back and say, "I've interviewed 30 people this week, and another person built the technolo•y." So in an undergraduate class they've got products, they've got part- ners, they've got market trac- tion. This year I had one with an o-er for acquisition before they even ‚nished the class. Why is teaching entrepreneurship so important? One of the reasons it's so important is because the world is changing faster and faster. We can't tell students, "This is the career we're training you for." And so school needs to say less, "I'm going to train you to be an accountant"—and FUN FACT Sarah Lubik received her whiskey tasting accreditation from the Jameson's Distillery in Dublin A s an undergrad busi- ness student at SFU in 2006, Sarah Lubik landed a co-op job in which she interviewed founders of new technolo•y companies in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. on the challenges they faced as they tried to take their products to market. Since then she has tackled that question over and over, ‚rst in her research for gradu- ate degrees at the University of Cambridge (including a PhD in commercialization of advanced materials from university spin- outs) and now as SFU's director of entrepreneurship. Lubik has also tested the waters herself, as marketing director of U.K.-based Lung- ‚sh Dive Systems, which has developed a rebreather— diving equipment that recycles exhaled air. Was there a point where you had to decide if you were going to go into academics or work in business? There have been lots of points like that, actually. One of the great things about working at SFU is that they liked the fact that I had my own business when I came here, because I had the hands-on experience. I've had a few opportunities to go back into the private sector with startups, and it's tempt- ing, but it doesn't make me as happy. Because I think SFU is a platform to change how we do education, and it's nice to be in a place where you can have that much impact. Sarah Lubik SFU's director of entrepreneurship talks about how the university is trying to address the gaps in Canada's development of innovators by Marcie Good THE CONVERSATION don't get me wrong, we still do that—but more, "I'm going to give you the skills you need so that you have the ability to make your own opportunities." Through its curriculum and incubator and accelerator programs, SFU says it encour- ages social innovation. What does that mean? It's a venture that is started at least partially to solve some sort of social problem or market failure. We are increasingly faced by sig- ni‚cant prob- lems in the world, JULY/AUGUST 2017 BCBUSINESS 27 ENTREPRENEUR- SHIP AT SFU Enrolment in new interdisciplinary courses and pro- grams since 2014 1,200+ Students in entre- preneurship classes from outside the business faculty 40%+ INCUBATION Participants in Coast Capital Sav- ings Venture Con- nection early-stage incubator since its 2008 launch 6,000 Number of companies launched via SFU's four incu- bators 75+ SOURCE: SFU Transparent background Grant Thornton LLP

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