Dr. Stephen Lucas
CEO,
Mitacs
Khushwant Rai
Lead Data Scientist,
RBC Borealis
Shreya Saxena
Computer Science Student,
UBC Okanagan
Innovation can’t succeed on ideas alone — it requires skilled talent. Internships connect bright minds to opportunity, research, and real-world impact.
The talent is out there — in universities and on college campuses across the country. Through its extensive network across Canada’s innovation ecosystem, Mitacs is the launch pad for talent. It has a proven record of helping to nurture and retain home-grown expertise, while also attracting leading global talent by bridging academia and industry. The impressive numbers demonstrate Mitacs’s scale and sustained impact. Since 2018, it has invested $1.42 billion in over 35,000 research projects and supported more than 99,000 internships.
Now is the time to invest in talent
“Talent isn’t peripheral to innovation — it’s the starting point,” says Dr. Stephen Lucas, CEO of Mitacs. “If we want Canadian research to deliver results at scale, we need to treat talent development as core infrastructure. The opportunity now is to build a system that makes that the norm, not the exception. And Mitacs has helped build that foundation for over 25 years.”
If we want Canadian research to deliver results at scale, we need to treat talent development as core infrastructure.
Today, more than ever, is the time to invest in talent. As global competition for innovation intensifies, Canada’s ability to harness, attract, and retain top talent is essential to long-term economic resilience. And nurturing the skills of new graduates is imperative, especially considering the ongoing challenges for young talent entering the labour market. New reporting shows the average unemployment rate for recent post-secondary grads under the age of 25 is more than 11 per cent.
Building careers, solving complex challenges
Thanks to a Mitacs internship, Shreya Saxena, a fourth-year computer science student with a passion for helping people through tech, gained valuable skills and contributed to an innovative project at UBC Okanagan that will benefit communities impacted by the threat of wildfires. “We developed a dashboard that detects weather conditions and monitors those conditions for wildfire behaviour. It was a very personal project because two years ago I was evacuated from my home because of a wildfire,” says Saxena. “Having a good intern experience sets students and graduates up for success. They get meaningful work experience with industry partners, while receiving opportunities for mentorship.”
Having a good intern experience sets students and graduates up for success.
Saxena adds that beyond the internship itself, she was happy with the support Mitacs offered, including access to professional development courses.
Mitacs interns contribute to real breakthroughs in priority areas, such as life sciences, AI and the digital revolution, and advanced manufacturing, with many staying on in high-impact roles, both in Canada and internationally. Seventy per cent of former Mitacs interns continue working in a research and development capacity within Canada, helping foster talent and innovation domestically. Almost a third of Mitacs’s industry partners eventually hire their intern, turning research placements into lasting contributions to Canadian firms. And 18 per cent of interns go on to start a business.
Turning ideas into impact
The search for global talent is competitive, but Mitacs creates the perfect environment to attract, develop, and deploy diverse, world-class talent. Through its Globalink programs, Mitacs attracts exceptional international student researchers, many of whom go on to do graduate studies at Canadian universities, often becoming permanent residents. They live, work, and start businesses in Canada, helping to innovate and grow our economy and increase the quality of life for Canadians.
Khushwant Rai, Lead Data Scientist at RBC Borealis, is one of those who transitioned from an internship to a regular, full-time position. Rai has a keen interest in AI and machine learning, and landed a Mitacs internship at XLSCOUT. That six-month internship transitioned to a full-time position as a data scientist at the company, and after a year was promoted to tech lead.
“The internship was really important, because not only was I able to explore the kind of research I love, but I got industry-level skills and it got me ahead of other graduates who didn’t have this opportunity,” says Rai. “I credit Mitacs with helping launch my career. Without them, it would have been more challenging to get hired.”
I credit Mitacs with helping launch my career. Without them, it would have been more challenging to get hired.
Rai adds that when people become aware of Mitacs, they’re impressed. Not only is the organization helping to grow talent in Canada, but businesses also see value because they feel confident hiring interns, knowing that Mitacs finds the best talent for their needs.
If Canada wants to take its place as a global innovation leader, we need to do more than generate great ideas — we need to invest in the people who can turn those ideas into impact. Mitacs interns are already doing just that: helping companies solve real-world problems, accelerating research and development, and bringing Canadian innovation to life, both at home and on the global stage. The opportunity now is to build on that momentum, and Mitacs is ready to help.
Learn more at mitacs.ca.
