Mitacs Accelerate: Research and Development Funding For Hiring Students

Business people at R&D centerThere are many government grants for small business available to companies looking to hire high-skilled interns. For companies looking to solve R&D problems, hiring new talent with innovation ideas is an excellent option, especially when so many research and development funding options are currently available. Government funding grants for internship hiring are often offered in the form of wage subsidies. The following will provide a profile of some of the Top grant funding for business hiring.

Mitacs Accelerate – University Application of Specialized Expertise to Business Research Challenges

For a 4-month internship, Mitacs Accelerate provides $7,500 in the form of a co-sharing work subsidy with a company contribution of $7,500.  This government funding for business program connects companies with over 50 research-based universities through graduate student and postdoctoral fellows. Interns will transfer their specialized skills to related business challenges while also gaining real-world experience. Also, the Intern will take on a research project which has the potential to lead to or supplement the student’s thesis or further a research program.

For this small business funding grant, international and postdoctoral students are eligible and there is no limit to the number of Acceleration internships a company may sponsor.  For the Accelerate small business funding grants, Canadian for-profit companies, or a Canadian business location of a foreign-owned for-profit company are eligible.

Interns spend approximately half of the time on-site with the industry partner with the remainder spend at the university advancing the research under the guidance of a faculty supervisor. Projects may be eligible for SR&ED tax credits as well.

This cost-shared model with Mitacs, through the support of federal and provincial government funding, can be stretched to six months for part-time participation and projects can range from a single four month internship unit to multiple units combined together to accommodate larger projects. No

Deadlines: Applications are accepted at any time and typically approved within four to six weeks.

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Mitacs-Accelerate InDev Funding for Small Business

Mitacs-Accelerate InDev are the newest stream of funding from Mitacs and is an expansion of the Accelerate program. This government funding for small business is for collaborative projects with industry that advance/improve new products, processes, materials, systems or services, not research projects which are better suited for small business funding from the Accelerate program. Companies will receive small business funding of $3,500 with a contribution of $7,500. Companies can hire more than one graduate or postdoctoral intern at a time, and companies can also stack this Canadian government funding with the Mitacs Accelerate Program.

Mitacs Enterprise Research and Development Funding

The Mitacs Enterprise Canadian government funding is up to $15,000 wage subsidy for a 6-month internship and business mentorship program for graduates of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines. The focus of the Mitacs Enterprise funding for small business is to match interns with small and medium size companies to receive business and management training. Interns will also have access to the tools needed to develop a peer-support network. Interns will receive valuable experience working in business environments and businesses will benefit from the interns technical knowledge. Similar to other Mitacs programs, Mitacs Enterprise funding for small businesses allows for the hiring of more than one intern at a time.

Connect Canada Small Business Grants

Connect Canada offers a wage subsidy of $5,000 with an equal commitment from the industry partner of $5,000. Also, Connect Canada government grant funding is stackable with other Canadian government grant opportunities. These small business funding grants program is for a 4-6 month internship in any research field, including natural sciences, engineering, economy, social sciences, health, environment, and ethics. The intern will work with their academic advisor and the industrial partner to solve an R&D problem.

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