namrata barai june 17 th 2010. what is mitacs? national research network funded by federal and...

Namrata Barai

June 17th 2010

What is MITACS?

• National research network funded by federal and provincial governments• Federal government funds NCE, international operations

and internships• Provinces fund internships and training

• Connects Canadian researchers with companies and other organizations

• Original focus exclusively mathematical sciences• Internship program now expanded to include all

academic disciplines and industrial sectors

Core Business

• Mathematical sciences research projects• Large-scale, multi-year, multi-partner

• MITACS ACCELERATE• Cross-Canada, cross-disciplinary internship program

• MITACS International• Globalink, etc.

• Skills Enhancement Program • Networking & Technical Training• Mathematics outreach

What is MITACS ACCELERATE?

• Innovative made-in-Canada program • Links university faculty and grad students/PDFs with any department or discipline with Canadian companies • Focus - short-term research projects

• Company/Organization identifies the research problem• MITACS assists in identifying the appropriate expertise

at the universities• Internships are funded equally by the company and

MITACS with each contributing $7.5K • $15K is provided to professor as a research grant

• Minimum of $10K given to student as stipend• Remaining funds -additional costs associated with project

• Student spends portion of their time on site with company

How does it work?

More details..

• Partner eligibility• For Profit companies, Industry associations, Crown Corp• Not for Profit, Government, Community agencies, Hospitals

• Streamlined application process• No application deadline • 4 weeks turn around with peer review process• Internship can start at anytime

• Building blocks for larger projects• Each 4 month internship can be stacked together to create 8-24

month projects• Research in any field

• Business areas- Marketing, HR, Operations• Social Sciences and Humanities

Even more details…

• Very Flexible• Non industry partners with “significant” industry interaction• On site interaction can be substituted with field Work• Multiple partners (industry + non Industry)• Do not need a student to apply, as long as student is in

place prior to start of internship.• Cluster programs –

• Larger company contribution leads to higher matching ratio (1:1.7)• Minimum of 30K from company and 3 students involved

• Research projects are company driven• Leverages existing R&D budgets• HR recruitment tool; connecting you with potential

employees• Facilitates new relationships with university-based

researchers • No application deadlines; proposals accepted any time

The MITACS Advantage

How MITACS ACCELERATE works

identify research opportunities

access research expertise

collaborative researchCANADIAN INDUSTRY

CANADIAN UNIVERSITY

Steaming ahead with Multi-Fuel Power Boilers

• NORPAC Control Ltd specializes in industrial process optimization

• The goal of this internship was to find ways to improve the operational efficiency of multi-fuel power boilers.

• The intern was tasked to compare existing control algorithms for modelling and optimizing multi-fuel power boilers to recently published control algorithms in the academic literature.

Steaming ahead with Multi-Fuel Power Boilers

Result:• This exercise resulted in

recommendations to incorporate some recent results into the existing optimization control modules.

• After additional testing, the new algorithms will be fully encapsulated in the boiler optimization software package and ready for general

Other Manufacturing examples•Identifying and Prioritizing Critical to Quality Characteristics Partner: Research in MotionDiscipline: Statistics•Process Optimization of Kraft / Dissolving Pulp ManufacturingPartner: AV NackawicDiscipline: Engineering •Multivariate Analysis for Manufacturing Excursion Detection with Complex Equipment Containing Sub-SystemsPartner: Triant Technologies Inc.Discipline: Statistics •Does reducing postural variability lead to an increase in the prevalence of work-related injuries in lean automotive assembly?Partner: Pinnacle RehabilitationDiscipline: Kinesiology

Why MITACS?

Entrepreneurial Front-line staff

across country Bilingual Nimble Results-oriented Innovative

• 537 scientists• 1,080 graduate students and

post-doctoral fellows• 375 partners including:

• Companies• Government

(federal and provincial)• Not-for-profits • Hospitals and research institutes

• 50 Canadian universities• 15 international universities

The MITACS Community

MITACS… 10 years of success

• Exponential growth in number of internships funded between 2003 - 2008• 2003 – 18 internships

funded in math sciences

• 2008 – 243 internships across all academic disciplines

• Projection for 2009 600+ internships

Internships

03-04 04-05 05-06 06-07 07-08 08-09Projected

700

600

500

400

300

200

100

0

More information, please contactNamrata Barai: nbarai@mitacs.ca