Mitacs, ANUIES and Tecnológico Nacional de México (TecNM) partner to advance aerospace research, training, and talent mobility 

Toronto, ON — May 12, 2026 — As Canada and Mexico continue to deepen their bilateral partnership across trade, innovation, and advanced manufacturing, Mitacs, Asociación Nacional de Universidades e Instituciones de Educación Superior (ANUIES) and Tecnológico Nacional de México (TecNM) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen collaboration in aerospace research, training, innovation, and commercialization. 

Canada and Mexico share a highly complementary aerospace ecosystem, anchored in both strong trade flows and deepening cooperation across research, innovation, manufacturing, and engineering. Aerospace already features prominently in bilateral exchange through aircraft components, engines, and advanced manufacturing inputs, while both countries continue to expand collaboration in talent development and applied research. This partnership reflects a shared commitment to strengthening cooperation, accelerating innovation, and translating joint efforts into commercially viable technologies across the aerospace value chain. 

The agreement establishes a framework to advance joint training, develop highly qualified talent, enable research mobility, and strengthen industry–academic collaboration, with a strong focus on commercialization and real-world application. 

Advancing talent, research, and industry collaboration 

Through this partnership, Mitacs, ANUIES and TecNM will collaborate on applied training, workforce development, research mobility, and industry-led innovation in aerospace. 

Activities will focus on co-developing training initiatives, enabling student and researcher mobility, and building a deeply bilateral interconnected network of highly skilled talent and experts, while advancing collaborative research that generates innovative solutions and commercially viable discoveries across the aerospace sector. 

These efforts will be supported through Mitacs programming, including the Globalink Research Award (GRA) for research mobility and the Accelerate program for industry-driven, work-integrated learning collaborations. 

The partnership connects three extensive national networks, linking Mitacs’s pan-Canadian post-secondary and industry ecosystem with ANUIES and TecNM’s system of institutes across Mexico. It will also leverage industry partners in both countries, including those with a presence in Canada and Mexico, to help bridge ecosystems and strengthen pathways from research to commercialization. 

Strengthening Canada–Mexico collaboration 

Canada and Mexico are deepening collaboration across research, innovation, and talent development. In 2025, Mark Carney and Claudia Sheinbaum launched the Canada–Mexico Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and Action Plan, followed in 2026 by a tri-agency agreement between Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), and Secretaría de Ciencia, Humanidades, Tecnología e Innovación (SECIHTI) to advance joint research. 

Building on this momentum, aerospace represents a key area of collaboration, bringing together shared strengths across research, innovation, manufacturing, and engineering. 

Mitacs also builds on a strong and evolving presence in Mexico, including partnerships with Tecnológico de Monterrey (ITESM) and Universidad Tecnológica de Retoño (UTR). At the national level, Mitacs previously established a partnership with Mexico’s Secretariat of Public Education (SEP), with discussions now re-engaging to explore renewed collaboration. To date, Mitacs has supported over 600 bilateral research, development, and innovation activities between Canada and Mexico across all disciplines, areas of research, and sectors, in research mobility, entrepreneur market integration, and industry–academic collaboration. Looking ahead, building on its work in aerospace, Mitacs aims to support bilateral cooperation across all sectors of the growing Canada–Mexico relationship. 

Quotes

“This partnership between Mitacs, ANUIES and TecNM reflects the growing strength of the Canada–Mexico relationship and our shared ambitions for aerospace innovation. By connecting our talent pipelines, research ecosystems, and industry partners, we are creating new opportunities for highly qualified talent and accelerating the journey from research to real-world, commercially viable technologies. At its core, this is about building the global talent and innovation networks that will define the future of aerospace.”

Dr. Stephen Lucas, CEO, Mitacs

“Together with Canadian universities, colleges, and organizations such as MITACS, we reaffirm our shared responsibility to develop human talent, promote scientific cooperation, expand academic mobility, and accelerate innovation for the benefit of our societies.”

Heriberto Herrera Colocía, Director, TecNM/Technological Institute of Mérida

“The Asociación Nacional de Universidades e Instituciones de Educación Superior (ANUIES) represents more than 275 public and private higher education institutions across Mexico and serves as a leading platform for academic cooperation, innovation, internationalization, and institutional development.

Luis Alberto Fierro Ramírez, General Coordinator for Academic Strengthening/ANUIES

About Mitacs

For over 25 years, Mitacs has helped grow the economy and develop the workforce of tomorrow, connecting industry with academia and global partners to solve real-world challenges. We support business-academic research collaboration through internships, co-funded with businesses, for undergraduate to graduate students and post-doctoral fellows.    

As a national innovation connector, Mitacs takes a talent-first approach to strengthen innovation capacity and drive global competitiveness. We serve as an essential research-commercialization bridge, accelerating market entry and growth for new products and services.    

This is a critical time for Canada to think big and take bold action. Mitacs is ready to help build a strong and resilient Canadian economy, powered by ideas, talent and innovation.    

Mitacs is funded by the Government of Canada, the Government of Alberta, the Government of British Columbia, Research Manitoba, the Government of New Brunswick, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, the Government of Nova Scotia, the Government of Ontario, Innovation PEI, the Government of Quebec, the Government of Saskatchewan, and the Government of Yukon. 

About Tecnológico Nacional de México 

It is the largest higher education institution in Mexico and Latin America, with 254 institutes and centers distributed throughout the country and more than 600,000 students. It has a strong focus on engineering and applied sciences and a key contributor to Mexico’s aerospace talent pipeline. Overall, it accounts for 11% of the national higher education enrollment and 39% of the engineers trained in Mexico.  

About Asociación Nacional de Universidades e Instituciones de Educación Superior (ANUIES) 

It brings together Mexico’s leading higher education institutions: 275 affiliated universities and institutions across all 32 federal entities, representing approximately 80% of the country’s undergraduate and graduate enrollment an 90% of the national research activities. It is the country’s main platform for academic coordination and higher education public policy.  

For media inquiries, please contact:
Ziona Eyob
Senior Communications & Public Affairs Specialist
Mitacs
[email protected]