• Mitacs has designed and delivered research and training programs in Canada since 1999.
• It works with 70 post-secondary institutions, more than 6,000 companies, and both federal and provincial governments to build partnerships that support industrial and social innovation in Canada.
• Over the past 20 years, Mitacs has supported more than 20,000 research projects, trained more than 33,000 student and post-doctoral career-skills participants, and supported more than 3,600 international research collaborations.
• Since 2007, provincial funding has supported approximately 3,500 research projects, more than 3,700 interns and more than 8,200 internships (an intern can complete more than one internship) in B.C.
• B.C. government funding supports three Mitacs programs to benefit students and industry:
  • Accelerate: Provides a minimum of four-month collaborative applied research internships with industry for post-secondary students and post-doctoral researchers.
  • Elevate: Provides two-year collaborative post-doctoral fellowships with industry, with a special focus on advancing research management and professional skills.
  • Business Strategy Internships: Provides a minimum of four-month experiential learning opportunities for post-secondary students where the interns provide expertise to help businesses develop and implement their innovation road map.

John Hepburn, CEO, Mitacs –

“Mitacs is thrilled to have received this new investment from the B.C. government, which will allow us to support even more young researchers and help them gain real-world work experience, while helping organizations across the province innovate and grow. This new funding will have an enormous impact.” 

Mitchell Miller, CEO, Atlas Power Technologies –

“Atlas Power was born out of innovation made possible only because of Mitacs and the amazing people who work to connect the many businesses and academic innovators here in Canada. Without Mitacs, our company and technology would simply have never been developed. Now, we are building Canada’s first supercapacitor manufacturing facility here, at the same time we are building Canada’s first commercial scale coal-to-electrode grade activated carbon facility in Alberta. These facilities create real and high-paying clean-technology jobs, what are often called the jobs of the future, but they are actually here today.

“What makes Mitacs such an effective organization that is so critical to Canada is its ability to connect and leverage both private and public funding to propel innovation. This allows companies to take risks by deploying capital into scientific areas where there is potential, and it also provides student and post-docs with much-needed income as they work to hone their skills and become leaders in their fields.”

Dr. Xuejun Lu, intern, Mitacs Elevate –

“My experience as a Mitacs intern at Atlas Power helped me to accumulate an excellent track record and profile and enrich my network and skills. The program allowed me to expand the direction of my research into electrolyte design, synthesis and implementation in energy storage devices, while balancing my experience between academia and industry. I am convinced that B.C. government’s investment in Mitacs will provide similarly valuable research experience to others like me across the province.”

Ali Khosrozadeh, chief science officer, Atlas Power Technologies –

“During my Mitacs internship as a post-doctoral researcher at the University of British Columbia Okanagan in 2019, I developed a field-leading supercapacitor technology in collaboration with Atlas Power Technologies. I now lead the R&D function and the supercapacitor manufacturing team at Atlas Power, building pilot facilities to produce activated carbon and supercapacitors. Mitacs has enabled this successful and ongoing partnership between UBCO and Atlas Power. I strongly believe that the B.C. government’s increased support for Mitacs will help drive Canadian innovation.”

This funding builds on government’s commitment to building B.C.’s knowledge economy, promoting and supporting innovation in B.C. through capital projects and funding for research internships and scholarships in a variety of fields, such as technology, health, business, science and engineering.

Investments to support the growth of B.C.’s technology and innovation economy include the following:

• On July 22, 2021, government announced an investment of $64.8 million to expand the University of Victoria’s Engineering and Computer Science Building by adding a six-storey addition to provide new laboratory and teaching spaces and an adjacent new high bay research and structures lab.
• On Aug. 13, 2021, the B.C. government announced an investment of nearly $25 million to support 34 post-secondary research projects that will drive innovation and economic growth. The projects will also help create jobs, protect biodiversity and the environment, and help keep British Columbians healthy and safe.
• On Oct. 1, 2021, government announced the completion of a state-of-the-art learning environment with Okanagan College’s new Health Sciences Centre. Government invested $16.6 million into this project, which opened to students in September 2021.
• On Feb. 17, 2022, government announced an investment of $136.6 million to build a state-of-the art Trades and Technology Complex at the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) Burnaby campus. The complex will be a hub for skills training and include four new buildings, benefiting more than 12,000 full- and part-time students per year in more than 20 trades and technology programs.
• On May 25, 2022, government announced that more graduate students will benefit from a $3.75-million scholarship fund that will spark innovation, economic growth and help recruit and retain B.C.’s brightest minds.
• On June 13, 2022, government announced $25 million to support a new learning environment for the school of biomedical engineering at the University of British Columbia.
• On June 29, 2022, government announced the completion of a new innovative space at BCIT for students studying nursing, MRI diagnostics and other health-care roles. Government invested $66.6 million into this new Health Sciences Centre for Advanced Simulation, set to open in September 2022, which will support students in 32 health-care programs.