The short answer
Mitacs Accelerate is Canada's largest applied-research internship program. A company contributes $7,500 per internship unit — Mitacs matches it with a further $7,500 — and a graduate student or postdoc is placed with your team for four to six months to work on a defined R&D challenge. The intern receives a minimum $10,000 stipend; the remainder covers research expenses. Postdoctoral fellows cost more ($10,000 partner contribution) and receive a $20,000 award. There is no maximum number of units per project: a large company might run 20-unit, multi-year engagements. The program has a rolling deadline — no annual competition — and typical review takes six to eight weeks after submission. As of 2025–26, funding in Alberta and Ontario remains subject to limited allocations — contact your Mitacs Advisor to confirm current availability before you invest time in a proposal. The key qualifier: the project must be applied research. If your need is a business analysis or process improvement, Mitacs BSI is the closer fit.
Key facts at a glance
- Partner contribution: $7,500 per unit (graduate student); $10,000 per unit (postdoctoral fellow). Source: Mitacs.ca/our-programs/accelerate
- Mitacs match: $7,500 (grad) / $10,000 (postdoc) — creating a total research award of $15,000 or $20,000.
- Minimum intern stipend: $10,000 per unit (remainder may cover research costs).
- Postdoc funding cap: up to $60,000 per year (3 × $20,000 units), following the April 2025 absorption of Elevate.
- Special offers: Mitacs periodically runs reduced-contribution offers ($5,000 partner contribution per $15,000 unit). Check with your Mitacs Advisor.
- Deadline: Rolling. Peer review takes approximately 6–8 weeks. Submit at least 16 weeks before your target start date.
- Who can partner: Any incorporated for-profit or not-for-profit. Sole proprietors and LLPs are not eligible.
- Who can intern: Master's, PhD, or postdoctoral researchers with current status at a Canadian university. International students studying in Canada are eligible.
- SR&ED stacking: The partner cash contribution is a qualified SR&ED expenditure. A small CCPC can recover an additional 35 cents per dollar via the enhanced SR&ED credit.
How Mitacs Accelerate works
Three parties, one research challenge, a shared funding model. Here's the full structure.
Every Mitacs Accelerate internship requires exactly three active participants: a partner organization (typically a company), a professor at a Canadian university (the academic supervisor), and an intern (a graduate student or postdoctoral fellow enrolled at that university). The company proposes a research challenge it can't solve with internal resources. The professor provides academic oversight and research methodology. The intern does the work, split between the company's facility and the university lab.
Mitacs acts as the financial intermediary: you invoice Mitacs for the partner contribution; Mitacs matches it and forwards the combined award to the university, which pays the intern. You never pay the intern directly — Mitacs handles all payroll compliance and institutional administration. This structure is why the program runs in every province without requiring each company to set up research agreements from scratch.
The three-party model in practice
A clean-tech startup in Waterloo needs to model battery degradation under field conditions. Their CTO knows the problem but lacks the computational expertise. A graduate student at the University of Waterloo, supervised by a materials-science professor, spends five months embedded with the startup: three days per week on-site, two at the lab. Cost to the startup: $7,500 (plus HST). At the end, the startup has a validated degradation model, the student has industry experience, and the professor has a real-world dataset for a journal paper. All three parties must sign the application; all three drive the project.
What counts as a research project? Mitacs defines eligible work using the same standard as the federal SR&ED program: there must be a technological or scientific uncertainty the team is trying to resolve, the outcome cannot be predictable in advance, and the work involves systematic investigation. Routine testing, market studies, business-process improvements, and software customization projects that have no experimental element do not qualify as research under Accelerate — those projects belong in Mitacs BSI instead.
If you're a…
You get R&D capacity without a full-time hire
$7,500 buys a four-to-six month engagement from a graduate researcher — plus access to university equipment and the professor's network. Many early-stage companies use Accelerate as a bridge to validate technical concepts before committing to a full-time R&D hire. If your startup is housed at an incubator, also check the Mitacs Accelerate Entrepreneur Program.
You run multi-unit, multi-intern projects
There is no cap on the number of Accelerate units. A 100-person company might run 6–10 concurrent internships on different R&D workstreams, with $45,000–$75,000 in partner contributions generating $90,000–$150,000 in total research activity. The rolling deadline means new units can be added as projects evolve, without waiting for an annual intake.
You get industry experience and a minimum $10,000 stipend
You propose or accept a project aligned with your research area. Your supervisor oversees the academic integrity. The internship stipend supplements (not replaces) your existing scholarship or salary — you keep your student status throughout. Postdoctoral fellows receive at least $20,000 per unit and can access up to $60,000 per year across three units.
You co-design the project and supervise the intern
You are a required party on every Accelerate application. You can initiate a company partnership yourself or be brought in by a company that contacts Mitacs. Your institution's Office of Research Services also signs — they handle IP agreement negotiation, which Mitacs facilitates via a standard framework but does not mandate a specific IP position.
Cost and funding structure
The partner contribution model, unit economics, and special-offer pricing.
The core pricing model has two tiers based on intern type:
| Intern type | Partner contribution | Mitacs contribution | Total research award | Min. intern stipend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Master's or PhD student | $7,500 | $7,500 | $15,000 | $10,000 |
| Postdoctoral fellow | $10,000 | $10,000 | $20,000 | $20,000 |
| Special offer (grad, select periods) (not always active — verify the current special offer with your Mitacs Advisor) |
$5,000 | $10,000 | $15,000 | $10,000 |
Source: Mitacs.ca/our-programs/accelerate (program page, 2025). GST/HST/QST applies to the partner cash contribution.
The partner contribution is due before Mitacs releases funds to the university. You pay Mitacs (not the intern or the university directly), and Mitacs invoices you. Most Canadian companies treat this as a contract R&D expense.
Multi-unit project economics
A single Accelerate project can span multiple units and multiple interns. Each additional unit past the first adds $7,500 to the partner cost and $7,500 in Mitacs matching. There is no published per-project ceiling, though Mitacs may apply judgment at high unit counts. A representative five-unit, two-year project involving three graduate students might look like:
Company cost: 5 × $7,500 = $37,500 (+ HST/GST). Total research activity funded: $75,000. If the company is a CCPC and the work qualifies for SR&ED, up to $13,125 of that partner contribution may be recovered as SR&ED credit — bringing the effective net cost to roughly $24,375.
Mitacs also runs special-offer pricing from time to time, where the partner contribution drops to $5,000 per unit while Mitacs covers $10,000. These offers are typically tied to specific provinces or time windows and are not guaranteed to be available when you apply. Your Mitacs Advisor (free, assigned regionally) can tell you whether any current special offers apply to your project.
Eligibility: company, academic, and intern requirements
All three parties must meet distinct criteria. One disqualified party kills the application.
Mitacs Accelerate requires that all three parties — company, academic supervisor, and intern — independently meet eligibility criteria. The most common source of applications being rejected or delayed is one party being ineligible without the team realizing it upfront. Check each one carefully before investing time in a proposal.
Partner organization eligibility
| Criterion | Requirement | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Legal structure | Incorporated (for-profit or not-for-profit) | Sole proprietors and LLPs are not eligible |
| Canadian presence | Operations in Canada | Foreign companies with a Canadian subsidiary qualify |
| Company size | No minimum or maximum | Startups, SMEs, and large corporations all eligible |
| Industry sector | Broad — most sectors accepted | Project must be applied research, not routine operations |
| Revenue / stage | No requirement | Pre-revenue startups accepted |
Intern eligibility
| Category | Eligible | Not eligible |
|---|---|---|
| Master's student (full or part-time) | ✓ with student status for full internship duration | Student status must not lapse mid-internship |
| PhD student (full or part-time) | ✓ | Same status requirement |
| Postdoctoral fellow | ✓ $20,000 award, up to $60K/year | — |
| Recent graduates | ✓ within 2 years of graduation, with institutional approval | Must still have status at a Canadian institution |
| International students at a Canadian university | ✓ | Must have Canadian study permit for full duration |
| Undergraduate students | × | Accelerate requires graduate-level enrollment |
| Employed full-time at the partner company | × | Intern must be an independent researcher, not a current employee |
The part-time student question
Part-time students are eligible for Mitacs Accelerate, provided they maintain student status at their institution for the entire duration of the internship. The practical issue is that some universities do not grant part-time students full access to Office of Research Services support, which must co-sign the application. Confirm with both your institution's research office and your Mitacs Advisor before assuming a part-time student is straightforward to include.
How to apply: the application process step by step
Rolling deadline, six-to-eight-week peer review, and four required signatures.
Mitacs assigns regional Business Development staff who help companies scope projects, match with suitable professors and students, and navigate the application. This service is free. Contact Mitacs at mitacs.ca or through your local university's research office. Your advisor is your most efficient path through the process — they know current allocation constraints in your province.
You need a defined research question with genuine uncertainty, not a software development sprint or market study. The intern should ideally be identified before submission, though Mitacs lifted the strict requirement that 50% of interns be named at application time (as of 2025–26). Projects with named interns and strong recruitment plans are prioritized.
Download the current Accelerate application from apply-accelerate.mitacs.ca. The proposal describes the research question, methodology, expected outcomes, intern activities, and timeline. It requires signatures from: the intern, the professor, a company representative, and the university's Office of Research Services (or equivalent). All four must sign before submission.
Email the completed package to your assigned Mitacs Advisor — not directly to a central intake. For domestic projects, allow at least 16 weeks before your intended start date (peer review takes 6–8 weeks, and any revision requests add more time). The rolling deadline means you can submit any time, but build in buffer — peer reviewers are academics and review queues are not instantaneous.
On approval, Mitacs invoices the partner organization for the cash contribution. Funds are not released to the university — and the internship cannot formally start — until the invoice is paid. GST/HST/QST applies. Plan for payment lead time, especially if your accounts-payable process requires a purchase order.
Once funded, the intern works according to the approved plan. If the project scope expands or you want to continue, additional units can be added via a supplementary application. The four-to-six-month duration per unit can be combined into longer placements for the same intern, subject to approval.
Mitacs Accelerate vs. other programs: a direct comparison
When Accelerate is the right fit — and when it isn't.
Mitacs runs several distinct programs under the same brand. They are not interchangeable. The key decision point is whether your project is applied research (use Accelerate) or a business process / strategy challenge (use BSI). If your intern is a startup founder-student, consider Accelerate Entrepreneur. If you want a deeply subsidized postdoc for a longer engagement, the new postdoc tier of Accelerate (formerly Elevate) may be the best match.
| Program | Focus | Intern type | Partner cost / unit | Total award | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accelerate | Applied research | Grad student | $7,500 | $15,000 | R&D challenges, new product dev, engineering problems |
| Accelerate (postdoc) | Research (deep) | Postdoctoral fellow | $10,000 | $20,000 | Advanced R&D needing PhD-level expertise; formerly Elevate |
| BSI | Business strategy | MBA / business grad | $5,000–$7,500 | $10,000–$15,000 | Market analysis, competitive intel, ops improvements |
| Accelerate Entrepreneur | Startup research | Student-founder at incubator | Varies / institution-shared | $15,000 | Enrolled students running Mitacs-incubator startups |
| Globalink | International research | International undergrad | No partner cost | Varies | Academic research with no company partner required; discontinued as company-partnered stream Oct 2024 |
Accelerate vs. IRAP: which one first?
Both Accelerate and IRAP fund R&D at Canadian companies, but they work very differently. IRAP provides direct cash contributions to the company (paid as an IRAP grant against labour and overhead costs), while Accelerate routes money through an academic institution and requires a university partner. IRAP is typically faster for companies with strong internal R&D teams; Accelerate is better when you need specialized expertise you don't have in-house. The two can be stacked — and often are — on related R&D workstreams, as long as the specific costs claimed aren't double-counted.
| Dimension | Mitacs Accelerate | IRAP |
|---|---|---|
| Who does the R&D | University intern + professor | Your own employees (+ some contractors) |
| Requires a university partner | ✓ Mandatory | × Not required |
| Funding form | Matching contribution (company pays Mitacs) | Direct grant (NRC pays you) |
| Company size limit | None | Typically 500 or fewer employees |
| Application timeline | 6–8 wks peer review (rolling) | Varies; ITA assigns an advisor for relationship-based intake |
| Stackable with SR&ED | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes (recapture rules apply) |
Accelerate vs. NSERC Alliance grants
For companies pursuing larger, longer-horizon academic partnerships, NSERC Alliance grants are an alternative or complement to Accelerate. Where Accelerate is designed for discrete, intern-centred projects, NSERC Alliance funds multi-year research collaborations between companies and academic research groups — typically with a minimum $50,000 partner cash contribution over the grant term and academic grants up to $150,000 per year. As of 2025–26, NSERC and Mitacs have a streamlined joint-funding pathway for projects that meet both criteria, reducing the application burden of running them simultaneously. See the NSERC Research Partnerships profile for the current intake status.
What changed in 2025–2026
Recent program updates that affect current applicants.
Elevate absorbed into Accelerate (April 1, 2025). Mitacs Elevate, which had been a separate postdoctoral fellowship program, ceased as a standalone offering on March 31, 2025. Postdoctoral fellows now apply through the same Mitacs Accelerate stream. The new postdoc model offers $20,000 per internship unit and up to $60,000 per year (three units), compared to Elevate's earlier $40,000–$60,000 per year structure. Existing Elevate projects were allowed to continue to completion without modification.
International stream discontinued (October 31, 2024). The Mitacs Accelerate International stream — which allowed international students not enrolled at a Canadian institution to participate — was discontinued. International partner organizations (foreign companies co-funding a project with a Canadian intern) are still permitted — only the dedicated international-intern stream ended. The Globalink Research Internship (which brings international undergrads to Canada for summer research) continues, but is an academic-only stream with no company partner requirement. If your project involved an international student not already enrolled at a Canadian university, that pathway is now closed.
Ontario and Alberta allocation constraints — 2025–26. During the 2024–25 fiscal year, Mitacs faced limited provincial co-funding in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario, which resulted in allocation caps on new applications from those provinces. As of 2025–26, funding in Alberta and Ontario remains subject to limited allocations — contact your Mitacs Advisor to confirm current availability before you invest time in a proposal.
Named-intern requirement eased. Mitacs previously required that at least 50% of interns be identified by name at application time. That requirement has been lifted for 2025–26. Applications without named interns are now accepted if the proposal includes a strong recruitment plan and realistic timeline to have interns identified within the year. Projects with interns already named are still prioritized in review.
Joint NSERC–Mitacs streamlined pathway (2025–26)
For companies and professors who want to combine Mitacs Accelerate funding with an NSERC Alliance grant on the same project, Mitacs and NSERC have signed an amended MOU introducing a two-part streamlined application process for joint submissions. This reduces duplication between the two agencies' paperwork. The joint model has different cost-share rules than standalone Accelerate — contact your Mitacs Advisor and your institution's NSERC liaison for the current terms before applying jointly.
Stacking Mitacs Accelerate with SR&ED and other programs
How Accelerate interacts with SR&ED, IRAP, and provincial innovation credits.
Mitacs Accelerate is explicitly designed to be stacked with Canada's other R&D incentives. The most important combination is Mitacs + SR&ED.
Under the SR&ED program, a company's qualified R&D expenditures earn an investment tax credit (ITC) against taxes payable. The $7,500 partner contribution to Mitacs is a qualified SR&ED expenditure — a contract payment to an arm's-length party for scientific research. For a Canadian-controlled private corporation (CCPC) under the enhanced SR&ED threshold, this earns a 35% refundable credit. On a five-unit project with $37,500 in partner contributions, that's up to $13,125 back as a refundable credit — reducing the effective cost of the Accelerate engagement from $37,500 to roughly $24,375.
| Scenario | Units | Gross partner cost | SR&ED credit (CCPC, 35%) | Net cost after SR&ED | Total R&D funded |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single internship | 1 | $7,500 | $2,625 | $4,875 | $15,000 |
| Three-intern project | 5 | $37,500 | $13,125 | $24,375 | $75,000 |
| Large corp (15% non-refundable) | 5 | $37,500 | $5,625 | $31,875 | $75,000 |
Note: SR&ED credit amounts are illustrative. Actual credits depend on your corporation type, prior claims, and the SR&ED expenditure limit. Confirm with a qualified SR&ED preparer. See also: SR&ED tax credit profile.
Beyond SR&ED, consider how Accelerate fits with:
- IRAP — fund your internal team's R&D while Accelerate funds the university side. Avoid double-claiming the same costs.
- Innovative Solutions Canada — if the Accelerate project validates a novel product or technology, ISC Phase 1/2 can follow to commercialize it.
- Ontario Innovation Tax Credit (OITC) — Ontario companies doing qualifying SR&ED-eligible R&D can claim both federal and Ontario provincial credits on the same Accelerate-funded work, subject to stacking rules.
- CICan Applied Research — for manufacturers or SMEs that don't have access to a nearby university with relevant expertise, CICan Applied Research provides a college-based alternative to the university-centric Mitacs model.