Mitacs is a national, not-for-profit research organization — not a granting agency, and not part of Canada’s Tri-Agency (NSERC, CIHR, SSHRC). This distinction trips up a lot of first-time applicants: Mitacs does not run peer-reviewed competitions that fund a principal investigator’s independent research program the way a Discovery Grant or a CIHR Project Grant does. Instead, Mitacs designs and administers partner-matched research internship programs that connect graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and (in some programs) undergraduates with an industry, not-for-profit, or municipal/government partner organization, co-funding a defined project with that partner rather than an open-ended research agenda.
Founded in 1999 and funded through a mix of federal government contributions, provincial government contributions, and partner-organization cash, Mitacs today runs a portfolio of programs spanning domestic research internships, entrepreneurship support, and international two-way mobility. This guide covers the current program lineup as of August 2026, how the funding model works, who is eligible at each career stage, and what changed when Mitacs discontinued its standalone Elevate postdoctoral fellowship in 2025.
Mitacs is not a funder in the Tri-Agency sense
Canada’s federal research funding runs through two parallel tracks that research administrators need to keep distinct:
- The Tri-Agency (NSERC, CIHR, SSHRC) funds investigator-led research programs, training grants, and fellowships through competitive peer review, largely independent of any external industry partner. See CASRAI’s guides to the NSERC CREATE Program and writing a CIHR Project Grant for how that track works.
- Mitacs funds partner-matched internships and mobility placements. A Mitacs award is not peer-reviewed research funding for an open-ended project; it is co-funding for a defined, time-boxed internship in which a student or postdoc works on a problem an external partner organization brings to the table, under academic supervision.
Both tracks can, and often do, fund the same trainee at different points — a doctoral student might hold a Tri-Agency training award for their thesis research and separately complete a Mitacs Accelerate internship applying that research to an industry partner’s problem. They are complementary, not substitutable, and a common error in university research-office guidance is treating Mitacs like a fourth granting council rather than an internship-brokering organization with its own funding logic.
The partner-matching funding model
Nearly every Mitacs program runs on the same underlying structure, denominated in Internship Units (IUs): a fixed block of funding (commonly a four- to six-month internship) that is split between Mitacs and a partner organization, with the resulting award going largely to the intern’s stipend and, in most programs, a smaller allowance for direct research or travel costs.
- The partner organization is typically a company, not-for-profit, municipality, or other external entity with a real business or operational problem it wants researched. It contributes roughly half the award in cash (contributed cash, not in-kind), proposes or co-defines the project scope with the academic supervisor, and in most programs takes an active role in mentoring the intern alongside the university supervisor.
- Mitacs matches that contribution from its own federal and provincial funding, administers the application and reporting process, and holds the academic institution and supervisor to Tri-Agency-equivalent eligibility standards (the supervising researcher must be faculty at an institution eligible to hold Tri-Agency funding).
Because the partner organization is co-defining the project and paying roughly half its cost, Mitacs internships sit closer to applied, partner-driven research than to curiosity-driven basic research — a distinction worth flagging explicitly to a PI who is used to writing their own research questions rather than responding to a partner’s stated problem.
Current Mitacs program portfolio
Mitacs periodically restructures its programs, and one significant change took effect in 2025: Mitacs Elevate, the standalone postdoctoral fellowship program, was discontinued as a separate program effective May 1, 2025. Postdoctoral funding did not disappear — it was folded into an expanded Accelerate postdoctoral stream, which now funds postdoc internships at a higher per-unit rate ($20,000 per four-to-six-month unit, up to nine units/three years) than Elevate’s earlier standalone structure. If you see “Mitacs Elevate” referenced in older guidance, treat it as retired; the current mechanism for postdoc-level industry internships is Accelerate’s postdoctoral stream, not a separate Elevate application.
| Programme | Who it’s for | Typical duration | Partner contribution | Mitacs contribution | Typical total (per unit) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accelerate (student/graduate stream) | Post-secondary students (undergrad and graduate) and recent graduates, paired with an industry/partner organization | 4–6 months per Internship Unit (IU); projects can scale to multiple IUs over up to 5 years, capped at 10 IUs per project | $7,500 cash per IU | $7,500 per IU | $15,000 per IU (min. $10,000 to intern stipend, up to $5,000 research costs) |
| Accelerate (postdoctoral stream) | Postdoctoral fellows within 5 years of PhD completion | 4–6 months per IU; up to 9 IUs (about 3 years) | $10,000 cash per IU | $10,000 per IU | $20,000 per IU (min. $15,000 to stipend, up to $5,000 research costs) |
| Business Strategy Internship (BSI) | Undergraduates, graduate students, recent graduates, and postdocs from any discipline working on a business problem (marketing, operations, finance, IP strategy) rather than a technical R&D problem | 4 or 6 months per internship | $5,000–$7,500 cash, depending on funding model chosen | Balance to $10,000 or $15,000 total | $10,000 or $15,000 per internship (min. $10,000 to intern stipend) |
| Accelerate Entrepreneur | College, undergraduate, graduate students, and postdocs who are themselves building a startup or commercializing their own research | Same IU structure as Accelerate | Varies (the applicant’s own venture is typically the “partner”) | Matches partner contribution under standard Accelerate terms | Same as Accelerate IU rates |
| Accelerate Global Excellence Award | Top international PhD graduates and Canadian scholars pursuing a postdoctoral position in Canada, matched with a partner organization | 2-year award | ~$42,500/year | ~$42,500/year | ~$170,000 over 2 years (minimum $70,000 to stipend across the term, remainder for research/relocation costs) |
| Globalink Research Award (GRA) | Senior undergraduates, graduate students, and postdocs — both Canadian students going abroad and international students/postdocs coming to Canada | 12–48 weeks (1–2 Internship Units) | N/A — funded by Mitacs and partner-country co-funders, not an industry partner | $6,000 per IU | $6,000–$12,000 depending on project length |
| Globalink Research Internship: Students | International undergraduates from Mitacs partner countries, placed with a Canadian faculty supervisor | 12 weeks | N/A | Covers stipend, travel, and research allowance | Fixed award package (varies by intake) |
| Globalink Research Internship: Faculty | Canadian professors seeking a skilled international undergraduate intern for a 12-week project | 12 weeks | N/A | Covers the intern’s award package | Fixed award package (varies by intake) |
| RISE–Globalink Research Internship | Canadian undergraduates seeking a research placement in Germany, delivered jointly with Germany’s DAAD | Summer term (typically ~3 months) | N/A — joint Mitacs/DAAD funding | Stipend and travel support per DAAD RISE terms | Fixed award package |
Figures above reflect Mitacs’s published program terms as of August 2026 and are the most Mitacs-specific numbers available at the time of writing; Mitacs revises funding levels and eligibility periodically, so confirm current rates directly on mitacs.ca/our-programs or with your institution’s Mitacs liaison before budgeting a proposal around them. Note also that Mitacs previously ran several other programs — Elevate, the Canadian Science Policy Fellowship, an Entrepreneurship International Program, a Globalink Graduate Fellowship, an Accelerate International stream, and an Accelerate Fellowship — all of which have since been retired or folded into the programs listed above; if institutional guidance or an older funding announcement references one of these by name, treat it as superseded.
Eligibility by career stage
Undergraduate
Undergraduates are eligible for a narrower set of programs than graduate students: the Business Strategy Internship (any discipline), Accelerate Entrepreneur (if commercializing their own work), and the Globalink Research Internship streams (both inbound, for international undergraduates coming to Canada, and outbound, via RISE–Globalink to Germany). Standard Accelerate is open to “post-secondary students” broadly, which in practice includes upper-year undergraduates at many partner institutions, but graduate students and postdocs make up the bulk of Accelerate participants.
Graduate (Master’s and PhD)
Graduate students are the core Accelerate and Globalink Research Award population. They must be registered at a Mitacs-partner Canadian institution (or be a recent graduate, within two years of completion, participating at their institution’s discretion) and paired with an academic supervisor who is faculty at a Tri-Agency-eligible Canadian institution.
Postdoctoral
Postdocs access industry-partnered internship funding through Accelerate’s postdoctoral stream (the successor to the discontinued Elevate program) and, for outbound or inbound international mobility, the Globalink Research Award. Eligibility is generally capped at five years post-PhD, and postdocs can complete up to nine four-month internship units (about three years) under Accelerate.
International and inbound/outbound mobility
Because Mitacs funding requires a Canadian academic supervisor at a partner institution, most Mitacs programs are structured around Canada as a fixed point — but which direction people move, and whether non-Canadian applicants are eligible, varies by program:
- Open to international (non-Canadian) applicants coming to Canada: Globalink Research Internship: Students (inbound undergraduate placements), the Globalink Research Award (inbound direction), and the Accelerate Global Excellence Award (explicitly targets top international PhD graduates for Canadian postdoctoral positions). Standard Accelerate internships can also be held by international students, provided they are registered at a Canadian partner institution with a valid study or work permit — the eligibility requirement is enrollment status and immigration status in Canada, not citizenship.
- Open to Canadian applicants going abroad: the Globalink Research Award (outbound direction) and the RISE–Globalink Research Internship (Canada-to-Germany, via DAAD).
- Not open to applicants outside Canada in either direction: Accelerate’s core domestic funding requires the trainee to be enrolled at, or a recent graduate of, a Canadian partner institution and the partner organization relationship to run through that Canadian academic base — there is no version of Accelerate that funds a fully non-Canadian-based project.
This matters for the meaningful volume of searches on this topic originating outside Canada: a US-based student or postdoc cannot apply to Accelerate directly without a Canadian academic affiliation, but can apply to the Globalink Research Award or, for senior postdoctoral researchers, the Accelerate Global Excellence Award, both of which are explicitly designed to bring international talent into a Canadian lab.
Application timelines
Unlike Tri-Agency competitions, which run on fixed annual or semi-annual deadlines, most Mitacs programs (Accelerate, Accelerate Entrepreneur, and BSI in particular) use a rolling application process — there is no single annual deadline, and applications are reviewed roughly on a continuous basis, though processing typically takes several weeks and institutions strongly recommend applying well ahead of an internship’s intended start date. Globalink programs are the exception: the Globalink Research Award and the Globalink Research Internship streams run on fixed intake cycles with published application windows (commonly opening in the fall for the following summer’s placements), since they involve coordinated cohorts moving between Canada and partner countries. Confirm the current cycle dates directly with Mitacs or your institution’s research office, since intake windows can shift year to year.
Intellectual property
Mitacs takes an explicitly hands-off position on intellectual property: Mitacs itself claims no ownership stake in IP generated through its programs. Ownership defaults to whatever the host academic institution’s own IP policy specifies — which, in Canada, varies considerably by institution (see CASRAI’s guide to Canada’s university tech transfer and IP policy landscape for how that varies) — unless the university, the partner organization, and the trainee negotiate a separate project-specific IP agreement, which is common practice for Accelerate projects with a clear commercialization path. Because the partner organization has usually proposed the problem and co-funded the work, IP terms are frequently a point of active negotiation before a project starts, and research offices typically involve their technology transfer office early rather than defaulting silently to standard institutional policy.
Frequently asked questions
Is Mitacs a government agency?
No. Mitacs is a national not-for-profit organization, funded by a mix of federal and provincial government contributions plus partner-organization cash, but it is not a government department or a Tri-Agency granting council. It operates independently, administering its own programs under its own eligibility rules.
What happened to Mitacs Elevate?
Elevate, Mitacs’s former standalone postdoctoral fellowship program, was discontinued as a separate program effective May 1, 2025. Postdoctoral industry-internship funding continues through an expanded postdoctoral stream within Mitacs Accelerate, at a higher per-unit rate than Elevate previously offered.
Can a US or other non-Canadian student apply to Mitacs Accelerate?
Not directly without a Canadian academic affiliation — standard Accelerate requires the trainee to be enrolled at (or a recent graduate of) a Canadian partner institution. Non-Canadian researchers can access Mitacs funding through the Globalink Research Award (inbound direction) or the Accelerate Global Excellence Award, both designed specifically to bring international talent into Canadian labs.
Does the industry partner have to be a for-profit company?
No. Mitacs partner organizations include private companies, not-for-profits, municipalities, and other public-sector organizations with a defined problem they want researched, provided they can make the required cash contribution.
Who owns the research output from a Mitacs-funded project?
Mitacs itself takes no position on IP ownership. By default, the host institution’s own IP policy governs, though many Accelerate projects negotiate a separate project-specific IP agreement between the university, the partner organization, and the trainee before the project starts.
Programme names, funding structures, and eligibility rules verified against Mitacs’s own program pages as of August 2026. Mitacs restructures its portfolio periodically (Elevate’s 2025 discontinuation is a recent example); confirm current terms directly with Mitacs or your institution’s research office before relying on specific dollar figures in a proposal.
