Intern, Benchmarking & Insights - Summer 2026

About MaRS

MaRS Discovery District (@MaRSDD) is a charitable organization and North America’s largest urban innovation hub, dedicated to helping high-growth technology companies succeed. With a focus on climate, health sciences and other emerging technologies, MaRS supports startups tackling some of the world’s most pressing issues. Through its world-class facilities, strategic programs and partnerships, MaRS accelerates the adoption of groundbreaking Canadian technology and bolsters a globally competitive innovation ecosystem. MaRS is the place where you can play a meaningful role in the innovation economy.

We understand qualifications on a job posting can be daunting. If you're passionate about the role and believe you can make a meaningful impact, we want to hear from you, even if you don't meet every listed qualification. We’re always looking for great talent to join our team on planet MaRS. 

We actively encourage all candidates to apply, including equity-deserving communities, including those who identify as BIPOC, racialized, women, people with disabilities, and people with diverse gender identities, expressions and sexual orientations. 

We want you to be comfortable being your most authentic self throughout our recruitment process. Please reach out to careers@marsdd.com if there’s anything we can do to make your experience more accessible and inclusive, including accommodations. Include 'Accessibility Request' in your subject line.

Want to be a Summer Intern?

We’re offering a range of exciting summer internships that cover the full spectrum of the work we do: from venture programming to marketing & events, to benchmarking & insights. MaRS summer interns will have the opportunity to get hands-on experience, collaborate with multidisciplinary teams, put forth their ideas and contribute to a dynamic organization.

If you’d like to apply to the opportunity detailed below, please make sure your cover letter demonstrates why you are a great match for this internship. Connect the dots from experience and education to what you're applying for.

And if you are applying for more than one MaRS internship, please make sure to identify this clearly in your cover letter, and tailor each letter to a specific opportunity.

Who we are looking for

MaRS interns possess a positive outlook and are smart, curious, energetic and engaged in the world around them. They’re independent, but also work well on a team. They are ideas people, always thinking of innovative, new ways to do things. Beyond this, there are specific knowledge and skill requirements for each role, as detailed below.

About the Internship Opportunity with Benchmarking & Insights

As an Intern on the Benchmarking & Insights team, you will play a pivotal role in launching a first-of-its-kind national publication: the State of the Canadian Venture Ecosystem Report. Moving beyond the standard funding and investment metrics that currently saturate the market, you will help us tell the real story of Canadian innovation: focusing on the health, demographics, and trajectory of the ventures themselves.

You will curate a data-centric narrative that explores critical trends such as employment growth, commercial maturity, insolvency, and regional clustering. By combining high-impact data visualization with macroeconomic context and interviews from key ecosystem partners, you will create a report that positions MaRS as a national convener and provides actionable insights for the Canadian tech landscape.

Major tasks the Intern will undertake:

• Data Synthesis & Management: You will source, clean, and structure data from top-tier intelligence platforms (StatsCan, PitchBook, CB Insights) to ensure our reporting is built on a foundation of accuracy.
• Data Visualization: You will translate complex datasets into clear, high-impact visuals (bar graphs, infographics, charts) that make trends easy to understand at a glance.
• Narrative Building: You will draft concise, data-driven narratives and conduct qualitative research on market trends to contextualize the numbers.
• Product Development & Scalability: This isn’t just a one-off project; you are building a legacy product. You will create the dashboards, templates, and process documentation that allow this report to be easily updated and replicated annually.
• Project Execution: You will support the end-to-end development of the final report, ensuring all data sources are properly cited and the final output is polished and professional.
  

What You Bring

Required Skills & Experience

• Currently enrolled in post-secondary education, returning to studies in September 2026
• Available to work full-time, 37.5 hours/week, from May - August 2026
• Clear written communication skills, ability to draft simple reports/narrative using proper citations
• Strong attention to detail
• Familiar with basic data visualization principles from coursework (bar charts, line graphs, pie charts etc.)
• Comfortable with Microsoft Office and/or GSuite (Word, Excel, Docs, Sheets)

Great to have (but not required)

• Intermediate/Advanced Excel (VLOOKUP, Pivot Tables, Macros/VBA); Dashboards (Looker, Tableau, PowerBI)

The Fine Print

The internship runs May 4 - August 21, 2026.

The expected annual base salary range (prorated for the term) for this role is $42,000 - $51,000, which is determined based on year of study, candidate’s skills, knowledge, experience, and internal equity.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. We encourage you to apply early as we may close the posting before January 30, 2026. 

Applicants must be legally eligible to work in Canada, reside in Ontario for the duration of the internship and be willing to work out of our Toronto office (101 College Street) a minimum of 3 days per week.

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