Mitacs Accelerate Internship Units 2025/26
Due to the current federal funding landscape, institutions based in Alberta and Ontario will continue to operate based on an allocation model for the 2025/26 fiscal year. Carleton’s allocation is based on the university’s average usage of the Accelerate and Elevate programs over the past three years. This will impact any applications under the Accelerate program, including joint Mitacs applications with the Tri-Council Agencies.
Allocation of available internship units will be completed on a continuous basis for fully submitted projects until all units have been allocated.
Program Updates
Due to program changes, the Mitacs Accelerate International and Mitacs Elevate programs have been discontinued and have been rolled into the Accelerate program. This year, such applications will be included in Carleton’s Accelerate funding allocation.
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The Accelerate International stream has been discontinued as of October 31, 2024.Mitacs has implemented changes to the Accelerate program to provide greater flexibility for international collaborations.
Eligible Mitacs Accelerate proposals now include:
- One or more Canadian partner organizations
- For-profit or not-for profit corporations, hospitals or municipalities
- One or more Canadian postsecondary institutions
- Interns must be students, postdoctoral fellows or recent graduates with status at a Canadian postsecondary institution. Visiting research students are eligible to participate in Accelerate projects provided they have status at a Canadian postsecondary institution.
- All interns eligible to participate in Accelerate (e.g., certificate/diploma students, college students) can also participate in projects with international elements.
- International travel may be limited by circumstances external to Mitacs for some individuals (e.g., recent graduates may not be able to travel internationally for the project due to visa requirements for non-students).
- Optional: Add an international parnter
- International for-profit and not-for-profit corporations may be added as an additional partner organization in an Accelerate proposal submission. International partners are eligible to financially support the project, provided the Canadian partner organization also has meaningful interaction with the intern(s) and benefits from the project.
- Virtual interaction with international partner organizations is permitted; no international travel is required.
- For interns, no minimum or maximum limitations will be set on the duration of international travel. Meaningful interaction with the Canadian partner organization and postsecondary institution is still required. Interns who travel must follow their postsecondary institution’s policies for international travel.
- One or more Canadian partner organizations
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The Elevate stream has been discontinued as of March 31, 2025.Going forward, the Elevate program has been replaced with a $20k per internship unit ($60k per year) postdoctoral funding model within the current Mitacs Accelerate program. New submissions will be subject to Carleton’s 2025-2026 fiscal year allocation limits.
All applications must be sent to Ana Boika, Carleton’s Mitacs Business Development Advisor, for proposal development and coordination of signatures.
If you have questions regarding the discontinuation of these programs or the changes to Mitacs Accelerate, please contact Ana Boika (aboika@mitacs.ca).
Eligibility
- Standard Mitacs eligibility rules continue to apply
- Mitacs will require a minimum of 50% of interns to be named on the proposal
Mitacs programs that are not impacted by these restrictions include:
Accelerate projects that are not impacted by these restrictions include:
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In order to be eligible to the Indigenous Pathways offering, one of the following requirements must be met:- The student assigned to the project must be a self-identifying Indigenous person (First Nations, Métis or Inuit).
- The partner organization must be a for-profit organization with self-identifying Indigenous persons (First Nations, Métis or Inuit) who hold 50% or greater ownership shares.
- The partner organization must be a not-for-profit organization with board membership consisting of 50% or more self-identifying Indigenous Persons (First Nations, Métis or Inuit).
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Accelerate research projects in the field of quantum science and technology that seek to predict and explain the behaviour of atoms and molecules, involving the manipulation and control of systems at the atomic and subatomic levels.Quantum science and technology projects broadly refer to the study of one or more of the following:
- Quantum communications: Networks that utilize the laws of physics to protect and share data.
- Quantum computers: A type of computer that exploits the behaviour of microscopic elements the size of atoms to perform calculations.
- Quantum materials: Materials with unusual magnetic and electrical properties resulting from quantum effects.
- Quantum sensors: Devices that use quantum science to perform measurements with high sensitivity and accuracy.
- Quantum software: Software and algorithms that run on quantum computers, and enable the operation and design of quantum computers and/or development and optimization of quantum applications.
Next Steps
Mitacs has committed to work with Carleton to ensure that applications submitted do not exceed the university’s allowance. All proposals must be sent to Ana Boika for proposal development and coordination of signatures as part of the Mitacs submission process.
If you have any questions regarding the change in funding, please contact Ana Boika (aboika@mitacs.ca) or refer to the How to Apply section on Accelerate website.
Mitacs and the Office of the Vice-President (Research, Innovation and International) (OVPRII) are both available to provide support to researchers as we move forward during this period. Thank you for your understanding.