“I wasn’t one of those people who started university with plans to launch a company,” said Jamie Yuen. “But the success of our Mitacs internship and our partnership with BMI made starting Copperstone Technologies in 2014 the logical next step.”

Rohit had come to Canada in 2012 to pursue an MBA focused on entrepreneurship at the University of Victoria. During his program, he undertook a Mitacs Accelerate internship with Limespot, a small e-commerce start-up with five employees, a far cry from his experience at Blackberry.

“The business skills I obtained from Mitacs Step made significant contributions to my success. I believe that it’s important to have career-enhancing skills, not simply technical skills.”

“Mitacs was the first organization to believe in us... Without Mitacs’ support, I believe that we could not have gotten to the stage that we are, with BrainShield almost ready to hit the market and revolutionize the concept of helmet protection.”

“By collaborating with other businesses and customers at the local level who share my values, I hope to develop locally-oriented solutions to food security. I see cooperation as key to establishing a local food industry that rivals the global industrial food system.”

“During my internship, I became very comfortable speaking to businesses and explaining the benefits of my expertise. I learned about the kinds of things industry was interested in and how my research could address them.” she said. “It gave me the boost of confidence that I needed.”

Innovation, whether researcher, technology, or social, is widely viewed as being “gender blind” or “gender neutral,” places where male and female do not matter. But according to Sarah, this is the first misconception we need to confront.

Montreal-based start-up incubator TandemLaunch is the recipient of the Mitacs Industry Award for Exceptional Leadership.

Mitacs Elevate alumnus Richard Beal is the recipient of the First Place, $20,000 prize of the inaugural Mitacs Entrepreneur Awards for his company, COFOVO Energy.

Mitacs Step alumnae Kit Chen and Neesha Desai are the recipients of the Third Place, $10,000 prize at the inaugural Mitacs Entrepreneur Awards for their company, Alieo Games.

Mitacs Accelerate alumnus Guillaume Brault is the recipient of the second place, $15,000 prize of the inaugural Mitacs Entrepreneur Awards with co-founder Viviane Bélair for their company, Inova Source.

Mitacs Accelerate alumnus Clayton Hiles was the recipient of an Honourable Mention at the inaugural Mitacs Entrepreneur Awards.