Mitacs Accelerate

Mitacs Accelerate

Funds industry-academic internships in Canada through collaborative project support to strengthen real-world implementation.

Mitacs Accelerate is Canada's primary university-industry research internship program, connecting post-secondary students and postdoctoral fellows with industry, not-for-profit, and public-sector partners to carry out applied research projects. Administered by Mitacs, a national not-for-profit organisation, the program operates on a rolling intake basis with no fixed application deadlines; applications are accepted year-round through either the Mitacs Plus portal or the legacy RAP portal, depending on the project configuration, and review typically takes six to eight weeks.

Funding is co-contributed by Mitacs and the partner organisation. Under the standard model, Mitacs contributes CAD $10,000 per internship unit, the industry partner contributes a minimum of CAD $7,500, and the total award per unit is CAD $15,000 — of which at least CAD $10,000 goes to the intern as stipend and up to CAD $5,000 covers research expenses. Under the postdoctoral model, the partner contributes CAD $10,000 and the total award reaches CAD $20,000 per unit, with a postdoc stipend of CAD $15,000. Each internship unit runs a minimum of four months; projects can scale up to five years in duration. Interns must be enrolled students, postdoctoral fellows, or recent graduates (within two years of graduation) at a Canadian post-secondary institution.

Eligible partner organisations include for-profit corporations receiving more than 50% of revenues from non-government sources, not-for-profits, Canadian municipalities, and hospitals. Government departments and foreign companies are not eligible as partners. Academic faculty supervisors must hold appointments at institutions eligible for Tri-Agency funding. Funds flow through the academic institution. Interested teams should contact a local Mitacs Advisor to determine the appropriate intake portal and timeline for their proposed project.