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Business Strategy Internship 

Sponsor/agency: Mitacs

Program: Business Strategy Internship 

Description 

The Mitacs Business Strategy Internship (BSI) supports collaboration between post-secondary students, postdoctoral fellows, industry partners and academic researchers to tackle critical business challenges and drive innovation. Mitacs BSI connects skilled research talent with organizations in need of strategic insights to help enhance operations, improve processes and develop new opportunities.  

The program is open to for-profit companies, hospitals, municipalities and eligible not-for-profit organizations. 

The projects are co-developed by supervisors, interns and partner organizations to address business innovation in areas such as marketing, operations, finance and intellectual property, depending on the needs of the partner organization. All projects require supervision by both a supervisor at the partner organization and an academic supervisor at Ontario Tech.  

The award provides either $10,000 or $15,000 per intern to allow them to undertake a four or six-month internship project with a partner organization in Canada. BSI interns gain valuable hands-on experience and contribute to innovation-driven projects. In addition, Mitacs offers online professional development courses to interns through their e-Campus, EDGE. 

Program Summary 

Deadlines: Applications are accepted throughout the year. Application reviews take approximately four weeks.     

Value: There are two funding models: $10,000 and $15,000 per 4-6 month internship unit. 

  • For the $10,000 funding model, the partner pays $5,000 (plus applicable taxes) and the entire stipend goes to the intern. 
  • For the $15,000 funding model, the partner pays $7,500 (plus applicable taxes) and $5,000 can be used for eligible project costs or to top up the intern stipend. 

Indirect Costs: N/A 

Duration: 

There are no limits on the number of internships that can be completed for students, as long as the interns have time in their schedule to accommodate the internship. Recent grads are limited to 3 internships (or 1 year) of funding and postdocs are limited to 9 internships (or 3 years) of funding.  

How to Apply:

  1. Notify your Research Partnerships Officer and the Mitacs Business Development Officer of your intent to apply. Please see below for Research Partnership Officer Faculty Portfolios to determine your primary Ontario Tech contact for Mitacs projects.   
  2. You can apply directly through the Mitacs Registration and Application Portal (RAP), available here. 
    1. Please note a proposal template will be provided to you through RAP. You can also find a template for review prior to submission under ‘How to Apply’ here.
  3. Submit application and Submit the Research Grants Authorization (RGA) Form signed by your Dean to the relevant Research Partnerships Officer. 

If the project is awarded, a Research Partnerships Officer can facilitate the development of a research agreement and provide any required support throughout the life of the project.

Contact: Mitacs applications are handled by our Research Partnerships Officers. 

Partnerships Officer contact information:

Mitacs program contact: Laura Yu

Program information:

You can find more information on the Mitacs business strategy internship website.

Eligibility 

Subject Matter

The projects are meant to respond to the specific needs of partner organizations and they must be designed to address business innovation components such as products, processes, or services. A project might focus on, for example, marketing, operations, finance, or intellectual property.

Applicant 

Academic supervisors must be a faculty member who is eligible to hold Tri-Agency funding. 

Partner Organization 

Partner organizations can be for-profit corporations (meaning they must receive more than 50% of their funds from non-government sources) and eligible not-for-profit corporations, municipalities and hospitals in Canada. Eligibility can be confirmed with a Mitacs advisor. 

  • For-profit businesses and not-for-profit corporations operating outside of Canada are only eligible as additional partners on projects with a Canadian partner organization.
  • Eligible NFPs (not-for-profits) include charities, economic development organizations, industry associations, social welfare organizations, health organizations, foundations and research centres/institutes.

Mitacs advises that you connect with the Mitacs advisor (listed above) to check eligibility for not-for-profit partners prior to application. 

Intern

The intern undertaking the internship must be:

  • A Canadian citizen, a permanent resident, or international student with a student visa, or international postdoctoral fellow with a valid work permit, who is 18 years old or over and falls into one of the following categories:
    • Registered students and postdoctoral fellows at Mitacs partner colleges and universities in Canada. Postdoctoral fellows are eligible if the date of graduation from a PhD program is less than five years to the start date of the project. Exceptions are available for extenuating circumstances such as parental leave or military service. Fellows must not have been employed full-time at the partner organization prior to applying.
    • Recent graduates (must be within two years of graduation at the start of their project) and non-degree students (diploma, certificate, etc) are eligible at the academic institution’s discretion. (Any interested applicants should check with their institution to first determine whether they are able to support other types of university interns before drafting an application.)
    • Visiting students and researchers at Canadian academic institutions who are completing a degree at a university abroad may also be eligible at the discretion of the Canadian institution.

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