Mitacs opens up internship and fellowship programs to not-for-profit organizations

Mitacs is opening its two key programs to not-for-profit (NFP) organizations for the first time, exponentially expanding the number of organizations that stand to gain from its support for internships and fellowships. NFPs will now be eligible for Mitacs funding under its flagship Accelerate internship program as well as its more recent Elevate postdoctoral fellowship program, which received new funding in the last federal Budget (R$, February 24/14).

Mitacs is seeking $200 million to dramatically expand its Accelerate program in the forthcoming Budget (R$, October 30/14), If successful, it will boost internships from 2,500 today to 10,000 by 2020, dovetailing with the increased scope of its activities now that NFPs are eligible. Organizations most likely to benefit from NFP eligibility include industry associations, economic development organizations, charitable organizations and social and welfare groups.

To be eligible, NFPs must demonstrate that their research projects are oriented towards economic or productivity gains and will result in outcomes such as job creation, cost reduction or greater productivity. It's estimated that Canada has at least 170,000 NFPs which contribute 8.1% to overall gross domestic product.

"We've been looking at not-for-profits for a long time and piloting several projects. There's significant demand," says Dr Alejandro Adem, Mitacs' newly installed CEO and scientific director. "If our goal is to boost innovation, then we need to engage the not-for-profit sector."

For the research community represented by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the expansion of Mitacs eligibility into their sectors could be a major game changer, significantly lowering the cost of supporting student internship and fellowships and providing principle investigators with a new funding stream. Mitacs reached out to SSHRC in 2013 to determine the degree of interest and received more than 400 applications, about 50 of which received funding.

"This is very fortuitous ... There's now a far broader range of partners and participants," says Dr Ted Hewitt, SSHRC's incoming president. "There are additional opportunities for our researchers and students. It opens up quite a few doors and expands the array of possible funders eligible for Mitacs funding."

Hewitt says his understanding is that SSHRC-funded principal investigators can use their grant funding as an eligible expense towards Mitacs funding, effective placing interns for half the normal cost.

"Our primary mission is research and training and broadening this out through Mitacs is awesome, he says.

Dr Marc Saner, director of the Univ of Ottawa's Institute for Science, Society and Policy, also welcomes the eligibility of NFPs and says interest among his students will likely be considerable.

"Many of our students will go into not-for-profits either to find careers or as a gateway to other fields. They offer great networking opportunities and often do more research than for-profits or government," says Saner. "Including not-for-profits sounds like a logical extension and makes the program more complete to deliver on its goals."

Saner notes that the distinction between NFPs and for-profits is often blurry, as NFPs are typically funded by membership fees, grants or contracts. If it's the latter, their culture is similar to that in the corporate world.

The change in Mitacs eligibility also extends to crown corporations.

R$