Update on ORS contacts for Mitacs program and Accelerate Internship Unit Allocation
Sponsor/agency: Mitacs
Changes to ORS contacts for Mitacs programs:
As of April 1, 2025 Ontario Tech researchers are asked to contact the ORS Partnerships team for all Mitacs program queries and for assistance with Mitacs application development.
Partnerships Officer contact information:
Victoria Nash-Woolley (FEAS)
Anna Kristoffersen (FS, FHS)
Daniel Huizenga (FBIT, FSSH, FEd)
FY 2025-26 Internship Unit Allocation for the Mitacs Accelerate Program:
Due to financial constraints in the 2025/26 fiscal year, Mitacs has issued a submission allowance for the Accelerate program. This allowance in effect limits the total number of internship units that can be submitted for the 2025/26 fiscal year by an academic institution. In addition due to the current financial constraints, Mitacs is encouraging projects with a high proportion of named interns (over 50% named internship units) and which are less than 2 years in duration.
For the 2025/26 fiscal year Ontario Tech is limited to submit a total of 105 internship units for the Accelerate Program. The 2025/26 fiscal year runs April 1, 2025 to March 31, 2026.
- Internship units will be allocated to projects as they are submitted on a first come, first served basis. Once Ontario Tech’s limit of 105 internship units has been reached, no further Accelerate projects may be submitted.
- The Accelerate internship unit limit applies across all Accelerate programs including: standard Accelerate, Accelerate Entrepreneur and the joint NSERC Alliance-Mitacs Accelerate program. The Accelerate internship unit limit will also apply to any funded extensions (where the partner and Mitacs are contributing additional money for additional IUs to the project) for current active Accelerate projects.
- The internship limit applies to all internship units submitted during the 2025/26 fiscal year, regardless of when the internship units will be activated. As a result, projects with named interns which can be delivered within this fiscal period are strongly encouraged. For multi year projects, it may be preferred to break the work up into phases and only apply for the first phase during the 2025/26 fiscal year.
**Mandatory next steps before initiating a new Mitacs Accelerate application:
- Given the current constraints on the Mitacs Accelerate program, all researchers are asked to connect with the appropriate Partnerships Officer (refer to contact list above) in ORS before initiating any Accelerate application via their online application portal and/or drafting an Accelerate application. ORS will confirm the availability of the required internship units and then connect the researcher to our Mitacs Business Development Advisor to start working on the application.
About the Mitacs Accelerate Program:
The Mitacs Accelerate program matches an industry or not-for-profit partner’s contribution to the cost of a collaborative research project. Students and/or PDFs can receive up to $15,000 in funding for each internship unit (IU). Each IU represents $7,500 in funding from the project partner (subject to applicable tax) matched with $7,500 from Mitacs per each 4-6 month period of work completed.
The Mitacs participant completes half of their internship on-site with the industry partner and the other half at the university under faculty supervision. The Mitacs participant is responsible for completing a report about the project that is reviewed by their faculty supervisor and presented to the industry partner.