Mitacs Elevate vs Accelerate: Which Program Fits a Late-PhD or Postdoctoral Project
By Muntasir Minhaz • Published Aug 03, 2026 • Scholarships & Funding, Canadian Universities & Colleges
Mitacs retired Elevate as a standalone postdoctoral fellowship on March 31, 2025. If you are a postdoc, you now apply through Mitacs Accelerate's postdoc funding track instead, which pays $20,000 CAD per internship unit and up to $60,000 a year. Late-PhD students stay on Accelerate's standard grad student track at $15,000 per unit.
📩 Elevate no longer exists as a separate program to apply to.
💵 Postdoc track: $20,000 per unit, up to $60,000 per year (3 units).
💵 Grad student track: $15,000 per unit, 4-6 months each.
🎓 Which track you use depends on whether you hold a PhD, not your project topic.
Existing Elevate awards granted before the change keep running until they finish.
Elevate Is Gone as a Standalone Program
If you are comparing Mitacs Elevate to Mitacs Accelerate for a late-PhD or postdoctoral project, the comparison has changed. Mitacs folded Elevate into Accelerate on April 1, 2025, after retiring Elevate as a separate program on March 31, 2025. There is no longer a distinct Elevate application. Instead, Accelerate now has two funding tracks inside one program: a standard track for graduate students and a postdoctoral track that replaced Elevate. Existing Elevate-funded projects granted before the change keep running under their original terms until they finish, according to Mitacs's announcement of the transition .
What This Means for You
The practical question is no longer "Elevate or Accelerate." It is which Accelerate track fits your stage. A late-stage PhD student who has not defended yet still applies through the standard grad student track. Once you hold a PhD, you move to the postdoc track, whether or not your project looks similar to what you were doing as a PhD candidate.
Comparing the Two Tracks
| Grad student track (standard Accelerate) | Postdoc track (formerly Elevate) | |
|---|---|---|
| Who applies | Enrolled graduate students | Postdocs within 5 years of PhD completion |
| Award per unit | $15,000 | $20,000 |
| Funding split | $7,500 partner + $7,500 Mitacs | $10,000 partner + $10,000 Mitacs |
| Minimum stipend from the unit | $10,000 | $15,000 |
| Unit length | 4-6 months | 4-6 months |
| Annual ceiling | Scales with units stacked, up to 5 years on a project | Up to $60,000 per year (3 units) |
Both tracks work through the same core structure, cited from Mitacs's Accelerate program page : an industry, hospital, non-profit, or municipal partner co-funds a research project with your supervisor, and Mitacs matches the partner's contribution dollar for dollar.
What Elevate Used to Offer
Before the 2025 restructuring, Elevate ran as a standalone two-year fellowship worth $60,000 a year with a minimum $55,000 stipend, for $120,000 in total funding over the two years, with the partner organization contributing $30,000 annually toward that total, according to UBC's Postdoctoral Fellows Office . Some university pages describing Elevate have not been updated since the program folded into Accelerate, so do not treat an older page you find through a search as confirmation that you can still apply to Elevate directly. Confirm current terms on Mitacs's own Accelerate page before you plan around a number from an outdated source.
Why the Postdoc Track Pays More
The higher per-unit amount on the postdoc track reflects that postdocs are past their degree and typically command a higher salary floor than a grad student stipend. The $60,000 annual ceiling, reached by stacking three $20,000 units in a year, gives a postdoc something closer to a full-time applied research salary funded jointly by an employer-style partner and Mitacs.
Which One Fits Your Project
If you are finishing a PhD and want a paid, partner-linked research placement before you defend, the standard grad student track is your option, and it stays available regardless of how close you are to finishing. If you have already been conferred your PhD, even recently, you move to the postdoc track and the higher funding scale, provided you are still within 5 years of completion. Neither track lets you choose the other based on project type: eligibility is set by your degree status, not by how advanced or applied your research is.
If You Defend Partway Through a Project
Your track depends on your degree status at the point you apply for a given internship unit, not on when the underlying research project started. If you are on the standard grad student track and successfully defend your PhD before your next unit application, you move to the postdoc track for that next unit, at the higher $20,000 rate. Confirm the timing with your supervisor and your institution's research office before you submit a renewal application close to your defence date, since the unit you qualify for depends on which side of that date the application falls on.
What Stayed the Same
The mechanics underneath both tracks did not change in the 2025 restructuring. You still need a partner organization willing to co-fund the work, your supervisor still designs the project with that partner, and the application still goes through the Mitacs Accelerate Registration and Application Portal (RAP) with your institution's research office. Intellectual property terms between your institution and the partner still get negotiated as part of the application, before the project starts, on both tracks.
If You Already Hold an Elevate Award
Mitacs stated that Elevate projects granted before the March 31, 2025 cutoff continue under their original terms until they finish. You do not need to reapply or move onto the new postdoc track partway through an existing award. The change affects new applications going forward, not fellowships already in progress.
How to Apply
Both tracks go through the same channel. Talk to your supervisor about a partner organization first, agree on a project scope together, then submit through Accelerate's RAP portal with your institution's research office. Submit at least 8 weeks before your planned start date, or 16 weeks for a project involving international travel, and expect about 6 to 8 weeks of review on top of that.