BC: An $10 million infusion will create more than 650 Accelerate-BC internships over the next four years, tripling the current number.

Designed to help companies create innovative business practices, products and solve ongoing industry challenges, the internship program connects graduate students with companies in the province. The program is administered by Mathematics of Information Technology and Complex Systems (MITACS) and an internship normally lasts for four months.

During that time the graduate will spend half their time on site with a B.C. company and half their time doing research on a mutually agreed upon project. The program is co-funded, with the partner company and MITACS each contributing $7,500.

"The internship program will build the province's base of highly-skilled graduates while encouraging innovation and commercialization in B.C.'s knowledge-based economy.” said Advanced Education Minister Murray Coell. “It is also leveraging another $5 million from industry partners for the program."

In one recent internship a graduate student in mathematics spent four months with Vancouver-based video game developer, Radical Entertainment, to research the optimal balance of physics and aesthetics needed to create realistic water and smoke simulations in the company's games.

"Graduate students bring enhanced skills to corporations and contribute to innovation in the tools used by all workers, creating an expanding cycle of productivity," said Coell. "Since students are often hired by these organizations upon graduation, internships also increase the retention of highly qualified personnel in B.C. that are so necessary for our booming economy."

All provincial public post-secondary institutions that offer graduate programs will be eligible to take part in accelerate-BC - B.C.'s Graduate Research Internship Program.

Since 2001, British Columbia has invested over $1.5 billion in research and leveraged more than $900 million in added research funding from other sources. Government is also funding the addition of 2,500 new graduate spaces over the next four years.

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