Technology Entrepreneurship @SFU

Collaborate across Disciplines. Chase Your Entrepreneurial Dreams. Join TechE@SFU (MSE 490)!

Interested in entrepreneurship—or already set on becoming a founder?

TechE@SFU is a dynamic, hands-on course where you’ll team up with senior students from across faculties to tackle real-world problems, design innovative solutions, and launch your own high-impact startup.

You’ll gain access to expert mentorship, funding, training, and exclusive entrepreneurial networks. TechE@SFU is a launchpad for new ventures—alumni include the founders of Moment Energy —and counts as an elective toward SFU’s Certificate in Innovation & Entrepreneurship.

Open to all undergraduate students. Don’t miss your chance—register for Fall 2026!

Application: Express your interest here

Teaching Team

Dr. Amr Marzouk (Instructor)
Dr. Amr Marzouk is an engaging educator and capable professional engineer with years of mechanical engineering, research, and design experience. He leverages the ability to tie engineering concepts and project management to real‐world applications, offering effective solutions to challenging problems. He is skilled in embedded systems, instrumentation, industrial automation, control systems design and digital signal processing. Strong education professional with a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) focused in Nonlinear Dynamics of Inertial Sensors from Simon Fraser University.

Doug Fast (Mentor)
Doug Fast is an Assistant Professor of Practice for Beedie’s Innovation & Entrepreneurship area and a Mentor-in-Residence with the Chang Institute. He is the Founder and Alchemist of Dark Water Tek, a consultancy that provides guidance to clients in navigating the fog of new product development. Prior to founding Dark Water Tek, Douglas held the roles of CEO at Nyce Control, President of Spectrum Signal Processing, and Executive Vice President and Vice President of Research and Development at Vecima Networks Inc. Douglas joined Vecima in its early days and played several key roles in helping scale the company to success at 921 staff and top line revenue of C$120M. Doug holds a Master's degree in electrical engineering and is a Citizen of the Metís Nation of BC.

Fall 2026 Course Details

As an interdisciplinary experience, TechE@SFU brings together students with diverse perspectives, knowledge, and skills.

Course Code: MSE 490 – Special Topic: Technology Entrepreneurship
Term Offered: Fall 2026, Tuesdays 4:30-7:20 @SFU-Surrey SRYC 5140

Eligibility: Open to all SFU undergraduate students
Pre-requisite: 60 credits or instructor approval for Non-MSE students. 80 credits for MSE students.

Application: Express your interest here
If you’re pursuing the Charles Chang Certificate in Innovation & Entrepreneurship, this counts as one of the two elective courses you need to complete the certificate.

Pathways after TechE

At the end of the Fall semester, you and/or your team will have the opportunity to advance into funded capstones and/or Entrepreneurship Co-op (eCo-op) to continue to furrther develop your project.

MSE Capstone Integration

For Mechatronics Systems Engineering students:

Integrate your TechE project into your mandatory capstone.

Access prototyping funding from the Chang Institute.

Entrepreneurship Co-op (eCo-op)

For all students:

Apply for a funded co-op term to work full-time on your startup and receive a $10K salary.

Receive mentorship and resources from the Chang Institute.

eCo-op terms are available every semester, with dedicated placements for TechE prospects and alumni.

Additional Resources

Students in TechE@SFU gain access to a wealth of resources to help them commercialize their ideas.

Mentoring

Mentoring and access to networks is critical to new entrepreneurs and anyone trying to excel in their field, and this initiative provides expert leadership and guidance. Teams will have access to experienced business and technology mentors not available in traditional class settings. These mentors will provide deep and diverse support to project teams to help the student entrepreneurs to establish direction with their projects.

Funding

Student teams who wish to continue after the Fall course will have the opportunity to pitch for feedback and additional funded capstone or eCoop, based on their business and technological progress and potential. As part of TechE, students will also participate in the Chang Institute's Opportunity Fest (November), receiving valuable feedback from community and industry mentors, with potential of winning cash prizes!

Community

TechE students are part of the Chang Institute community and have enhanced access to networks and programs such as Mentor Meet, SPARK, Founders Circle, Idea Prize, Catalyst and the incubator program, and are encouraged to attend activities and events to meet like-minded peers and other SFU founders.

Hear from Our Alumni

“TechE@SFU was a fun way where I got to step out of my comfort zone and be an entrepreneur.”
- Vivian Wong, Health Science Student

"Working with peers from disciplines like mechatronics, Beedie, Computer Science, and more was an unexpected
opportunity that pushed me to think beyond my own field. The connections I made here were key
in becoming the Design Director of a startup under the Chang Institute."
- Grace Tan, SIAT Student

Contact Us:

TechE@SFU is supported by a dedicated team of faculty mentors from The School of Mechatronics Systems Engineering and the Charles Chang Institute for Entrepreneurship that bring together years of industrial and entrepreneurial experience in the technology arena.

Interested students are encouraged to send questions to Amr (MSE) (amr_marzouk@sfu.ca)

Other questions, contact the Chang Institute at comms_changinstitute@sfu.ca

Charles Chang Institute for Entrepreneurship