Mitacs (federal not-for-profit, public-private research partnership) · National
Mitacs Accelerate — $15K Industry-Academic Research Internship (Graduate + Postdoctoral)
About this award
$15,000 per four- or six-month research internship for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows partnered with a for-profit or not-for-profit organization. Mitacs's flagship industry-academic partnership program. Now also covers postdoctoral funding (replaced the standalone Elevate program in 2025).
Mitacs Accelerate is the flagship Mitacs program: a research-based internship that partners graduate students and postdoctoral fellows with for-profit and not-for-profit organizations to work on real research projects with industry impact. Each Accelerate internship pays $15,000 CAD per four- or six-month engagement, with the intern working under their academic supervisor while collaborating with a partner organization on a research challenge of mutual interest. The funding is leveraged — the partner organization contributes a matching cash amount, and Mitacs adds the rest, so the intern gets a substantial stipend and the partner gets cost-shared access to deep academic expertise. Accelerate operates rolling intake throughout the year, so the application timing is driven by your project start date rather than an annual deadline. As of March 31, 2025, the standalone Mitacs Elevate program (the prior dedicated postdoctoral fellowship) was retired and rolled into Accelerate's postdoctoral funding model — so Accelerate now serves both graduate students and postdoctoral fellows under one program umbrella. Internships scale: starting at four or six months, with the option to extend through additional concurrent or sequential awards across a multi-year project.
Can you get it?
- All — citizenship requirement
- All, Graduate — study level
How to apply
Review eligibility and gather your documents~1 hour
Read the official award page end-to-end. Confirm you meet every requirement before you start.
Collect reference letters2 weeks
Give your referees at least two weeks' notice and share your résumé.
Submit by No deadline~1 hour
Double-check every field, save a copy, and submit at least 24 hours early.
More details
Connect with a Mitacs Business Development representative early — they coordinate the matching of your supervisor + partner organization + funding stream.
The partner organization is often the rate-limiting step; if you haven't yet identified one, your university's industry-liaison office or your supervisor's existing partnerships are the natural starting points.
Application timing is rolling but the partner organization's own decision-making cycle (often quarterly) becomes the practical pacing constraint — start the conversation 2-3 months before you want the project to begin.
Postdoctoral applicants post-April-2025 should reference Mitacs Accelerate (not the retired Elevate program) — using the old program name on application materials may cause confusion.
International graduate students at Canadian institutions are eligible alongside Canadian students, but check work-permit conditions before accepting funding.
Mitacs Plus (their Mitacs membership tier) offers expedited application processes for partner organizations that join.