Funding Opportunities – Hiring and Training

The Persons Case Scholarship was established in 1979 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Persons Case. This landmark case, championed by Alberta’s Famous Five, established that women be considered ‘persons’ under the law in Canada. This ruling made women eligible to be appointed to the Senate and paved the way for future advancements in women’s rights.

Recipients of the scholarship are selected in part on how they are advancing gender equity in their field of study and how the award will help them achieve their career goals. The next application intake for the scholarship will open in fall 2022.

If you are an Alberta start up or small company needing to hire highly-qualified business or technical personnel, you may qualify for a non-repayable grant equivalent to 50% of the position salary for the first year of employment, up to $50,000.

A qualifying project leader is:

• A for-profit company
• Incorporated and operating in Alberta
• Minimum of one and no more than 50 full-time employees
• Annual sales revenue ordinarily not exceeding $5 million
• Primary business of the company must be the development and commercialization of geomatics technology

The NRC offers up to $30,000 to hire a recent graduate for a period of 6-12 months with a minimum of 30 hrs per week.

Eligible applicants (Company):

• Small or medium-sized business (1- 500 employees)
• incorporated and for-profit

Eligible applicants (recent graduate):

• 15 – 30 years of age
• A post-secondary graduate
• Canadian citizen / permanent resident / refugee status

Alberta innovates offers up to $67,500 (annual stipend) to hire a professional R&D associate to help the acceleration of new product commercialization. 

Matching needed: 25% of the associate’s salary.

Eligible applicants (Company):

• Small or medium-sized business (1- 500 employees)
• incorporated and for-profit

Eligible applicants (Associate):

• To have the necessary technical skills to take a product from research into the market.

The Canada-Alberta Job Grand can cover two-thirds of total training cost for existing employees (up to $10,000) or 100% of training cost for new hires (up to $15,000).

Matching needed: at least one-third of the training costs for existing employees or 100% funded for new hires.

Eligible applicants (Company):

• Private sector employers
• Non-profit employers
• First Nations and Metis Settlements
• Agriculture Financial Services Corporations
• Alberta Treasury Branches

Eligible applicants (Trainees):

• Canadian citizens/Permanent residents/ refugees
• Business owners with 4 other employees
• Employed family members

Description: Alberta innovates offers up to $105,000 for SMEs per year to subsidize employment of critical human capital on a full-time basis.

Eligible applicants (Company):

• Small or medium-sized business (1- 500 employees)
• For-profit

Eligible applicants (associate):

• Not have been employed by the applicant for more than 12 months

Description: TECHNATION’s wage subsidy program finances 50% of a student’s pay or up to 70% if the student is from under-represented groups

Eligible applicants (Company):

• Registered Canadian business or organization
• Have the financial capacity to hire a student full time and provide them with meaningful work experience

Eligible applicants (associate):

• Canadian Citizen/ permanent resident/ protected by the Immigration and refugee protection act
• Enrolled in a post-secondary institution
• Not an immediate family member of the employee

Description: A unique program culminating in a $100K pitch competition that fosters innovation, commercialization, and entrepreneurial thinking to grow a cutting-edge idea in the rehabilitation field.

Innovative individuals and teams who are creating new solutions in healthcare, relative to the broad, ever-expanding field of rehabilitation: 

• Commercially viable research project with evidence of product/tech-market fit that can make a significant contribution to the rehabilitation health field.
• Project must include a compelling plan for leveraging research/R&D to create a rehab health-related product and/or service; e.g., TRL 7 (TRL 5+ considered) or earlier-stage projects; minimum viable product (MVP); post prototype, etc. 
• Project must be affiliated with a research entity (facility, center or university) or a small, R&D intensive, commercial entity with linkages to one of the above research entities (e.g. no corporates). 
• Applicant (or at least one team member) must be a part-time or full-time founder engaged in or in the process of creating a company. 
• Applicants (and team members) must be legally eligible to work in Canada. 
• Applicant (and team) must reside in Alberta during the program and intend to develop their innovation in Alberta. 
• Must be available to engage in all REHAB i2c program activities and attend the final pitch session in person. 

Mitacs is the platform to allow you to reach your goals, whether they’re analyzing the impact of your projects or developing innovative products or processes. We provide funding for projects — up to 55% — and connect highly trained researchers with the businesses, non-for-profits, municipalities and hospitals that need them and help guide you through the process. We do all this — and more.

Do you have a busi­ness idea that gets you excit­ed about and keeps com­ing back to you? When you envi­sion your future self, do you see the image of an entre­pre­neur? Start your entre­pre­neur­ial jour­ney and turn your busi­ness idea into the future you want for your­self with the Entre­pre­neur­ship and New Ven­ture Devel­op­ment Micro­cre­den­tial.

Through a set of three prac­ti­cal and hands-on cours­es, you will learn about busi­ness start-ups, explore fund­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties, under­stand legal require­ments, dis­cuss mar­ket­ing strate­gies, and start to cre­ate a busi­ness plan around what you are pas­sion­ate about.

• Three courses, 21 hours each.
• Be ready to start your own business.
• Relevant and applicable skills and knowledge.

As an employer in Canada who has seen a drop in revenue during the COVID-19 pandemic, you may be eligible for a subsidy to cover part of the wages you pay employees. This subsidy will enable you to re-hire workers, help prevent further job losses, and ease your business back into normal operations.

For each applicable claim period, eligible employers can claim one of the following, whichever gives the highest amount:

• Tourism and Hospitality Recovery Program (THRP) – Wage: Effective: October 24, 2021, to May 7, 2022
• Hardest-Hit Business Recovery Program (HHBRP) – Wage: Effective: October 24, 2021, to May 7, 2022
• Canada Recovery Hiring Program (CRHP): Effective: June 6, 2021, to May 7, 2022
• Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS): Effective: March 15, 2020, to October 23, 2021