Mitacs


Mitacs is a nonprofit national research organization that, in partnerships with Canadian academia, private industry and government, operates research and training programs in fields related to industrial and social innovation.

History

Mitacs was founded by Canadian mathematicians in 1999. The organization, whose name originally stood for "Mathematics of Information Technology and Complex Systems", worked in the field of mathematical sciences and associated disciplines but has since expanded. In 2004, the Mitacs Accelerate program was launched and has since supported over 10,000 internships nationally.
https://www.ams.org/journals/notices/201908/rnoti-p1290.pdf

Programs

As of early 2019, Mitacs operates four main programs:

Accelerate

The organization's flagship program has supported over 10,000 research internships for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows since 2004 and has since replaced the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council's Industrial Postgraduate Scholarships Program.

Elevate

The two-year program has the objective of providing postdoctoral fellows with professional and leadership development training while leading a long-term research project with a partner organization.

Globalink

The international program supports two-way research collaboration between Canada and research partners abroad. In 2016, the Globalink Research Internship program welcomed 565 students across Canada.

Canadian Science Policy Fellowship

The program matches PhD-level researchers to government agencies to influence evidence-based policy-making.

Funding

Mitacs is jointly funded by the federal and provincial Canadian governments, academic partners and research partners. Between 2006 and 2015, the organization received $128 million in investments from the federal government. In 2015, the federal government pledged $56.4 million over four years to Mitacs in support of graduate-level research and development internships.