Montreal, QC — Today the Government of Quebec announced an investment of $50 million over five years to support 2,750 research internships per year through Mitacs’ programs. The funding is part of the Quebec Research and Innovation Strategy.
Mitacs connects businesses and not-for-profit organizations with local experts in the academic community to address research challenges. These collaborations promote innovation in Quebec across all sectors of the economy. Mitacs programs support the training and retaining of skilled workers, as well as job creation, commercialization, and entrepreneurship, as revealed in a 2014 longitudinal survey.
This funding will bring thousands of research and training opportunities in Quebec through three programs:
- Mitacs Accelerate pairs graduate students and postdoctoral fellows with businesses and not-for-profit organizations to undertake research projects supporting business innovation and technology commercialization.
- Mitacs Accelerate (International) supports research collaborations between graduate students and international industry partners, and offers graduate students from abroad the opportunity to complete research projects with Quebec-based industrial partners.
- Mitacs Elevate provides research management training for postdoctoral fellows as they undertake two-year research projects with partner organizations, increasing the number of research managers in industry.
Quotes:
Eric Bosco, Chief Business Development Officer, Mitacs
“The Government of Quebec’s investment is supporting the training and retaining of skilled workers, which is the key to a vibrant and innovative economy in the province. We look forward to working with local businesses and academia to build Quebec’s next generation of researchers.”
Marc Faucher, Director of Product Development Solutions, Teledyne DALSA of Bromont, QC; Mitacs Accelerate partner with École polytechnique and Université de Sherbrooke
“Partnering with the Mitacs Accelerate program is helping us meet the goals we set right from the beginning of our R&D project….We realized that we needed more resource personnel with strong and diverse backgrounds for the project. We looked into partnering with the universities to help us accelerate the development of our new technology.”
Prune Lieutier, Mitacs Accelerate intern, Université du Québec à Montréal with partner Éditions André Fontaine
“Mitacs makes it possible for various stakeholders — who might not otherwise work together under such favourable conditions — to collaborate with one another. I was able to work for a year and a half on my project and apply the data collection to my thesis, and my salary meant I didn’t need to work elsewhere. . . Furthermore, it provides recognition, visibility, and a network.”
Quick facts:
- Mitacs is a national not-for-profit organization led by Canadian universities that has designed and delivered research and training programs in Canada for 17 years.
- Working with 60 universities, thousands of companies, and both federal and provincial governments, Mitacs build R&D-based partnerships that support innovation in Canada.
- Mitacs programs are open to all disciplines and industry sectors, including manufacturing, business processes, IT, social sciences, design, and more.
Links:
For information about Mitacs and our programs, see mitacs.ca/newsroom.
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Photo: Premier of Quebec, Philippe Couillard.
