Peace Incubator Fund | Mitacs Support
About the Peace Incubator Fund
The Kindred Credit Union Centre for Peace Advancement is embedded in Kitchener-Waterloo’s vibrant innovation ecosystem, and supports individuals and teams who are ready to put wheels to their idea. Our Grebel Peace Incubator program enables students, recent grads, and community members to take their initiative to the next level.
One crucial element of support is access to funding. Through the Peace Incubator Fund, incubator members are able to access seed funding once per semester to accelerate their learning and stimulate the development of financially and socially sustainable businesses and nonprofits.
The Fund's impacts
This funding has benefited the ventures in our incubator program in many ways, including:
- Sponsoring a pilot project to test a core service;
- Supporting business development training;
- Covering costs of market research; and
- Financing opportunities for political engagement.
Support peacebuilding work today!
In September 2017, the Centre for Peace Advancement received a significant challenge gift to amplify this support, and the Centre's commitment continues today. Any contributions to the Peace Incubator Fundwill be matched dollar for dollar, dramatically increasing the funding available.
To have your tax-deductible gift doubled donate through our online donation page.
In “Gift Designation” choose “Peace Incubator Fund”. When it comes to Grebel this amount will be matched by the Bauman family Peace Incubator challenge gift so your tax-deductible gift for peace will double!
About support from Mitacs
In 2019, the Centre for Peace Advancement was pleased to add Mitacs as a new funding partner for our participants as the first social innovation incubator on the Mitacs-approved list of over seventy incubators! Grebel Peace Incubator participants are eligible for Mitacs support through the Accelerate Entrepreneur and Entrepreneur International programs.
For over 20 years, Mitacs has connected industry with innovation through post-secondary institutions all across Canada. Working through a robust program of industry-led fund-matching, Mitacs provides research funding to graduate students and post-doctoral fellows. Founded in 1999 as a support for STEM disciplines, Mitacs opened its eligibility to all fields of study in 2007, allowing non-STEM projects into their network.
The impacts of Mitacs funding
The addition of the Grebel Peace Incubator to the Mitacs network is a promising step for our broader community, students, and entrepreneurs for many reasons, including:
- Bridging the gap between research and entrepreneurship;
- Getting peace-related ventures in the incubator to market faster; and
- Encouraging interdisciplinary collaboration betweeen faculty and students.
Accelerate Entrepreneur
Mitacs’ newest program, Accelerate Entrepreneur, helps to bridge the gap between research and entrepreneurship by using the same system of fund-matching to link graduate students to an approved incubator at a university or college in Canada. It connects the student researcher with an approved incubator for a paid, renewable, 4-month research internship, where they can both further the efforts of a start-up and their graduate research. Through this new program, start-ups are also able to recruit top talent and funding for their venture.
By engaging graduate students in a way that allows them to connect their research to a funded entrepreneurial opportunity, the likelihood of success increases. Through the Accelerate Entrepreneur program, start-ups can leverage the fund-matching process to pay students for their work at a significantly reduced cost to the start-up.
Entrepreneur International
The second opportunity from Mitacs is through the Mitacs Entrepreneur International program, which provides matching funding for international travel costs. This funding is intended to help start-ups associated with a Canadian incubator make headway in international investment, working closely with a host incubator in a Mitacs-approved region. For our current and future participants, this means increased opportunities to explore international partnerships, expand to new markets, or be a part of an international incubator program.
To find out if you are eligible for Mitacs funding through the Grebel Peace Incubator, contact Fatoumatta Camara, Centre for Peace Advancement Coordinator.