Connecting Industry with University Expertise

1. Connecting Industry with University Expertise Lindsay Bowman Director, Business Development New Brunswick

2. Agenda • Overview of Mitacs Inc. • Overview of Mitacs Programs • Accelerate • Elevate • Globalink • Wrap up / questions

3. Mitacs Inc. A not-for-profit organization offering research and training programs in partnership with provincial/federal governments, academia, and industry. Mitacs programs foster & support innovation and a knowledge-based economy in Canada • Support world class multi-disciplinary research • Connect industry partners with leading university researchers to advance: • Industry innovation • Research excellence • Highly Qualified Personnel (HQP) training

4. Mitacs Programs • Accelerate • Grad student and post-doc research projects / internships • Elevate • Post-doctoral fellowships • Globalink • International undergraduate student research projects at Canadian universities

5. Accelerate Objective: To initiate and support multi-disciplinary applied research collaborations between university researchers and industrial partners Adopted model: Collaborative research projects are made up of multiples (blocks) of 4-month internships

6. Accelerate: Funding – One Internship Block • $7,500 Industry Partner • $7,500 Mitacs $15,000 research grant $5,000 other project-related expenses $10,000 minimum student stipend Student spends approx. half time at company, half time at university Travel subsidies available

7. Accelerate: Eligibility & Timeline • Open to graduate students and post-doc fellows • Masters students can do up to 2 internship blocks • PhD students can do up to 6 internship blocks • Post-docs can do up to 6 internship blocks • Note: students are limited to 6 internships per lifetime • Each internship a 4-month block, which may be stretched to 6 months, depending on need

8. Accelerate: Application Process Application forms are short, quick and easy to fill-out No application deadlines Peer-reviewed by internal and external experts Answers are given within 6 weeks of filing Not a contest International students are welcome Full support of the Mitacs Business Development Team

9. Accelerate: Funding – CLUSTERS • $36,000 Industry Partner • $44,000 Mitacs $80,000 research grant $20,000 other project-related expenses $10,000 $10,000 $10,000 $10,000 $10,000 $10,000 internships Extra leverage for medium to large projects Minimum: 3 students (scalable) Minimum total funding: $80K (6 blocks + $20K flexible) Scalable: each additional $18K from industry generates $22K from Mitacs

10. Accelerate: Eligible Industry Partners • Eligible: Company / industry / business of any size with offices or facilities in Canada where intern can spend time on-site • Domestic or foreign-owned • Eligible organisations may also include: • Crown Corporations • University spin-offs • First Nations Development Corporations • Industry associations • Ineligible: Hospitals, NGOs, municipalities, government agencies, university spin-offs in same room as founding “lab”

11. Accelerate: Process OR Company Initiates • A company contacts a Mitacs Business Development Director to discuss potential project scope • Company can make use of their contacts at Canadian universities • Or, sends Mitacs a brief project description, Mitacs makes use of their university network and potential professor & intern introduced to company Professor/Student Initiates • A professor with an identified industry partner & potential intern contacts a Mitacs Business Development Director THEN • The intern prepares a proposal, with company and professor, Mitacs staff can assist (~ 2 months before start) • Proposal submitted for peer review (non-competitive)

12. Case in point: UofT and CoreGen Capital Partners Title: Valuation Analysis of Canada’s Privately-Held Technology Companies Partner: CoreGen Capital Partners Discipline: Economics Project scope: The goal of this project is to develop a financial model which will be used to value privately-held technology companies in Canada. The research for the summer will be conducted with CoreGen Capital Partners. Market participants typically pay a liquidity premium when investing in the public market. The objectives of this research will be to accurately measure how investors determine the illiquidity discounts and to incorporate those factors into a valuation model for private technology companies in Canada.

13. Case in point: University of Manitoba & Ameresco Canada Title: Clarifying the Concept and Measurement of School Climate Partner: Ameresco Canada Discipline: Sociology Project scope: The condition of school facilities is an important, manageable determinant of teaching and learning outcomes. Recent research suggests that the effects of facility conditions on learning outcomes are mediated through “school climate”. This project, in partnership with Ameresco, an independent energy solutions company delivering long-term customer value through innovative systems, strategies and technologies, will take stock of the current definitions and measures of “school climate” and attempt to construct a sophisticated, defensible understanding of how the concept should be understood and measured.

14. Case in point: University of Alberta & AQL Management Consulting Inc. Title: Embracing 2030: Muslim Community Strategies & Priorities for the Future Partner: AQL Management Consulting Inc. Discipline: Religion Project scope: Various waves of immigration have altered the profiles of Muslim communities in Alberta demanding a need for better data and information for both short and long term planning of services and infrastructure.  This need poses challenges not only to individual civil society organizations, but also to cross-organization coalitions seeking to build common ground upon which to facilitate more comprehensive service efforts.  To this end, using published demographic data, and information gathered from various focus group interviews, this project seeks to identify high-level issues across and between Islamic communities in Edmonton. 

15. Case in point: University of Victoria & Squeezease Therapy Inc. Title: The Effects of a Deep Pressure Therapy Device on Anxiety, Attention & Behaviour Partner: Squeezease Therapy Inc. Discipline: Psychology Project scope: The purpose of this research project is to test the effects of an inflatable garment (vest) for providing Deep Pressure Therapy to children with autism spectrum disorders and other health disorders. The vest provides overall, evenly distributed pressure to the torso, and pressure can be adjusted through a pump and monitored through a pressure sensor. We are interested in how the vest will affect a child’s anxiety, attention, and inhibition, and their general behaviour. We will be testing children with autism spectrum disorders, attention deficit disorder, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

16. Case in point: Université du Québec and Tembec Title: Residual White Spruce Growth Responses Following Partial Cutting Treatments in Boreal Mixedwoods Partner: Tembec Discipline: Environmental Sciences Project scope: The boreal mixedwood forests of the Abitibi region of Quebec are often characterized by a canopy of trembling aspen with shade tolerant species such as white spruce and balsam fir in the subcanopy. In many cases, harvesting has converted complex mixedwoods into simpler, even aged forests. The purpose of this project is to evaluate the growth responses of residual white spruce trees in mixedwood stands where four different proportions of trembling aspen were removed by partial cutting ten years ago.

17. Elevate • 1-2 year competitive program for post-doctoral fellows • Builds industrial scientific management capacity and retains recent PhD graduates in Canada by: • Transitioning PhD holders from academia to industry • Providing on-site research and management training • Offering supplementary training, mentorship, and tools for industrial success • Creating demand and opportunities within industry

18. Elevate Funding • Annual award consists of a research grant provided to the supervising professor to cover the fellow’s stipend & research costs, as well as specialized leadership & management training delivered by Mitacs.  • The grant is $57,500.00 per year; a minimum stipend of $50,000.00 per year must be paid to the fellow. • Industry partner contribution: $25,000.00 cash per year.  Funds must be received by Mitacs in order to be matched and forwarded to the university.

19. Globalink Goal: To make Canada THE graduate research destination for international students Mitacs funds international undergraduate students to spend 3 months doing research at Canadian universities Mitacs works with universities to offer attractive scholarships to encourage return for graduate studies

20. For More Information Lindsay Bowman Director, Business Development, NB and PEI lbowman@mitacs.ca mitacs.ca RukhsanaMajothi Coordinator, Grant Management Atlantic Region rmajothi@mitacs.ca 514-840-7492 Eric Bosco Executive Vice President, Business Development ebosco@mitacs.ca 514-833-9690