Toronto, ON — Colleges Ontario and Mitacs will collaborate on awarding up to 200 internships to college students in 2020 on applied research projects. This research will stimulate economic growth throughout the province, particularly in rural and northern communities. It will also provide new work-integrated learning opportunities to full-time college students throughout the province.
One recent example of a successful research partnership was a collaboration between Mitacs, Fanshawe College, Agriculture Canada and the Ontario Maple Syrup Producer’s Association. Eloy Jose Torres Garcia, a senior Fanshawe College student and Mitacs intern, solved the age-old problem of how “buddy” gets into late-season maple syrup. “Buddy” is an awful, unfamiliar flavour that can cost maple syrup producers as much as 10 per cent of their annual income.
More than 260,000 full-time students are enrolled in Ontario’s colleges. Public Colleges in Ontario are unique, as they are mandated to be career-oriented, community-focused and support re-training for employment opportunities. The Mitacs-Colleges Ontario partnership will also create cross-institutional collaboration among post-secondary students to ensure the right skills are embedded in R&D projects in business.
Today’s announcement was made at Myant, an Etobicoke-based technology and textile company, whose aggressive plans to grow their business is based, in part, on access to post-secondary talent and successful collaboration with colleges to evolve their curriculums, preparing students for the needs of an entirely new industry. The Mitacs-Colleges Ontario partnership will broaden Myant’s access to both talent and facilities at Ontario’s provincial colleges. This builds on Myant’s existing relationships with local colleges to improve the development of talent in Textile ComputingTM via internships, permanent jobs upon graduation, and the establishment of labs and facilities at colleges where students can develop practical, hands-on experience in Textile ComputingTM.
Quotes:
Jennifer Wilkie, Interim CEO, Mitacs
“Mitacs is proud to partner with Colleges Ontario to ensure top talent, across all fields of study, develops relevant skills through work-integrated learning. In addition, our research internships will see students build professional networks that help them succeed in their transition to the workplace, while helping business and not-for-profit partners become more innovative and more competitive.”
Linda Franklin, President and CEO, Colleges Ontario
“This is a terrific opportunity to build on the colleges’ successful real-world applied research partnerships with businesses and others. It will promote economic growth, create exciting new careers and provide more students with opportunities to participate in research that develops new products and makes businesses more effective.”
Hon. Ross Romano, Ontario’s Minister of Colleges and Universities
“Preparing students with the education and training necessary to meet the job demands of today is an essential part of growing Ontario’s economy. Through experiential learning, students are becoming career ready faster and helping to close the skills gap in Ontario. Partnerships like Mitacs and Colleges Ontario are so important in providing our students with opportunities like we have never seen before. As the Minister of Colleges and Universities I want to thank Mitacs and Colleges Ontario for their leadership in this space and look forward to working with you both for the betterment of our students.”
Tony Chahine, Founder and CEO, Myant
“Myant is excited about today’s announcement about the Mitacs-Colleges Ontario partnership to create applied research opportunities for college students,” said Tony Chahine, founder and CEO of Myant. “As a business that depends on access to post-secondary talent, Myant’s ability to grow is being strengthened by Mitacs’s one-stop, turnkey solution that to help businesses like ours to create a pipeline for interdisciplinary talent from our local colleges. We look forward to working more closely with Mitacs and Colleges Ontario to bring the “culture of making” back to Ontario and to engage the next generation of students in creating positive lasting change for society.”
Quick facts:
Colleges Ontario is the association representing the province’s 24 public colleges. The association promotes the colleges’ pivotal role in strengthening the economy by producing graduates with the professional qualifications and expertise to succeed in rewarding careers. To learn about Colleges Ontario, visit collegesontario.org/end.
Mitacs is a not-for-profit organization that fosters growth and innovation in Canada by solving business challenges with research solutions from the best academic institutions at home and around the world. Mitacs is funded by the Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario as well as every other province, post-secondary partners, and industry and not-for-profit partners. For information about Mitacs and the programs, see mitacs.ca/newsroom.
Myant, based in Etobicoke, Ontario, is the world’s pioneer in Textile ComputingTM, developing textiles that can sense and react to the human body and connecting all people to care. This award winning, innovative company is empowering people to proactively create positive health outcomes and enabling access to world-class care whether they live in urban centers like the Greater Toronto Area or in more remote areas like Northern Ontario. To learn about Myant, visit https://myant.ca/
For more information:
Rob Savage Heather Young
Senior Director of Communications Director, Communications
Colleges Ontario Mitacs
647-258-7687 604-818-0020
savage@collegesontario.org hyoung@mitacs.ca
###
