Accelerate
no fixed amount
Grant
Description:
Optimize your budget, grow your R&D, and tap into the expertise of highly skilled students, graduate students, recent grads, and postdocs to solve your research challenges and achieve your innovation goals. Open to for-profit and not-for-profit corporations, the program pairs partner organizations with top-level research talent, who can help achieve business and innovation goals, execute initiatives, identify new markets, commercialize results, and more. Projects start at four months in duration and can be scaled up as needed.
Comments on Funding:
Partner contribution starts at $7,500 per internship unit (4-6 months), which results in a $15,000 research award. Of the $15,000 award, the intern will receive a minimum $10,000 stipend/salary.
If a project has 6 or more internship units with 3 or more interns, it is possible for the partner organization to contribute $6,000 per internship unit instead. This will receive a $13,333 research award with a $10,000 minimum stipend to the intern.
Continuous Intake
Eligibility:
Eligibility criteria for businesses:
1. Eligible for-profit corporations in Canada and not-for-profit corporations in Canada;
2. For-profit businesses operating outside Canada;
3. Not-for-profit corporation, hospitals, and municipalities as well as the project’s economic orientation for these partners must be assessed prior to proposal submission;
4. All sectors.
Eligibility criteria for students:
1. Students (from college students to undergrads and graduate students) and post-doctoral fellows at Mitacs partner colleges and universities in Canada;
2. Recent graduates from a Canadian college or university, within two years of graduation for 2021-22 and 2022-23 (see the Accelerate FAQ page for more information about eligibility for recent grads);
3. Full-time graduate students in select Mitacs partner countries;
4. Canadian citizens, permanent residents, and international students over the age of 18;
5. All academic disciplines.
Eligibility criteria for postdocs:
1. Postdoctoral fellows at all Canadian universities (except those who have previously held a Mitacs Elevate award). PhDs must have been granted no more than five years prior to the project’s start date;
2. Recent graduates from a Canadian college or university, within two years of graduation (see the Accelerate FAQ page for more information about eligibility for recent grads);
3. Postdoctoral fellows in select Mitacs partner countries (visit the Accelerate International tab for more details)
4. Canadian citizens, permanent residents, and international students over the age of 18;
5. All academic disciplines.
Eligibility criteria for professors:
1. Faculty at all Canadian universities who are eligible to hold Tri-Council funds, and faculty or appropriate research staff at Canadian colleges
2. Faculty at universities outside of Canada
3. Professors who want to send interns to Canada must be located in a Mitacs partner country (see Accelerate International tab for details)
4. All disciplines.
Application Steps:
Applicants must:
1. submit their completed proposal via a Mitacs representative. The proposal should be written and submitted at least eight (8) weeks prior to the planned start date of the internship. For international travel, a minimum of 16 weeks lead time is required. 3. They get feedback on the proposal from all participants and their Mitacs business development representative
2. Collect all required signatures: intern(s), professor(s), partner contact, and university Office of Research Services or equivalent and email the proposal package to his Mitacs Business Development representative.
Documentation Needed:
A complete internship application package must include the following:
1. The proposal completed and signed by all parties in Word format:
a) The Mitacs Accelerate Memorandum (Section 7) with signatures must be submitted as a scanned PDF; b) Appendix A – Accelerate Intern Consent Form signed.
2. Intern(s) CV (Any format is allowed. A CV template is available on the Mitacs website);
3. Lead Academic Supervisor’s CV for each participating academic institution only for projects with 6+ IUs (CCV as per Tri-Council or other CV format);
4. Accelerate budget and invoicing schedule (Excel spreadsheet);
5. Any supplementary documents (as applicable).
Completing their internship – Deliverables for projects with Canadian participants only:
1. Final report template [pdf];
2. Exit survey from the intern (survey link will be emailed within the first month of completion of the internship);
3. Exit survey from the professor (survey link will be emailed within the first month of completion of the project);
4. Exit survey from the partner organization (survey link will be emailed within the first month of completion of the project).
Other Things to Note:
About the author
Maurice