Mitacs is Helping to Empower Indigenous Innovation in Canada

VANCOUVER, BC, July 13, 2021 /CNW/ - With 'Indigenous Pathways' Mitacs wants to help by contributing 75% of the funding required on eligible projects.  A major opportunity for Indigenous businesses, nonprofits and students

As are many companies around the world, Indigenous-owned organizations are looking to innovate in order to grow and achieve their strategic goals.  But expanding requires talent, time, and budget. Finding the ideal combination of these three elements can be a challenge. Through the Indigenous Pathways program, an edge can be given to both developing businesses as well as students looking to connect their academic knowledge to real world problems

Mitacs is working to pair businesses and nonprofits with the right academic talent to achieve an organization's innovation goals. Projects are a minimum of four-months in duration – they can be longer – and right now, your contribution is only 25% of the cost of projects that have an Indigenous partner organization and/or an intern who is Indigenous.

Mitacs is fully committed to working with Indigenous peoples and creating equitable access to our programs:

• On a four-month, $10,000 project your contribution would be $2,500; if your project is bigger and requires more than four-months, your investment remains at 25% of the cost
• The partner organization must be 50%+ owned by an individual that self-identifies as Indigenous or the selected intern must self-identify as Indigenous
• Not-for-profit organizations are also eligible if their board of directors is composed of at least 50% self-identified Indigenous people, or if the mandate of the organization is Indigenous focused

Below are two examples of eligible applicants to the call.  Interested students, professors, business owners and non-profit leaders are encouraged to view the Mitacs Indigenous Pathways page and reach out through the contact form if they have any questions about eligibility or if they want to move forward with an application.

Example 1:

MapleWorks Manufacturing is a partnership between Taylor (Self-Identifies as Indigenous) and Carly (Identifies as Asian).  Because the business is 50% owned by someone who self-identifies as Indigenous, it makes MapleWorks eligible to apply to the Mitacs Indigenous Call.  The company can benefit from bringing in an intern with a minimum 4-month duration at the reduced investment of 25%, leaving 75% covered by Mitacs and it's sponsors.  The intern does not need to be indigenous.

Example 2:

Saige is an Indigenous student currently studying biology in University.  A local BioTech company would love to bring Saige in for a paid internship but can not currently take the risk in covering the full-cost.  The local BioTech company could apply through Mitacs and only need to cover 25% of the investment.

Quotes:

"As a national not-for-profit and important player in Canada's Innovation and Skills Agenda, Mitacs recognizes its ability and obligation to contribute to meeting the rights of Indigenous peoples as per United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples  and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action (esp. right to education and training opportunities)." - Candice Loring (Director of Business Development Indigenous Community Engagement at Mitacs)

"As a business owner, I 100% see the value that Mitacs provides to organizations and I wish that I had the opportunity to learn from a paid internship while I was still in my university finance program" - Keenan Beavis (Founder of Longhouse Media)

For more information on what Mitacs is doing to support Canada's Indigenous people, you can also look at: http://discover.mitacs.ca/indigenous/ which was created by the Indigenous owned web design and marketing company, Longhouse Media. 

Mitacs is committed to working alongside Indigenous leaders towards a better Canada for all.

Mitacs is a national, not-for-profit research and training organization dedicated to advancing collaborations between industry, academia and government in Canada, and to fostering international research networks between Canadian universities and the world.

SOURCE Mitacs

Press Contacts: Keenan Beavis, Longhouse Media, Campaign Manager, (778)-242-5336 | [email protected]; ErinRose Handy, Mitacs, Manager, Communications, (604)-754-1440 | [email protected]; Monique Rodrigues, Mitacs, Senior Communications Specialist, (604)-347-6837 | [email protected]