The federal government plans to expand e-commerce capabilities for small and medium-sized businesses across the country with a new internship program for information and communications technology (ICT) students.
The program aims to help small businesses hire up to 400 student interns a year to help with ICT projects that include implementing an e-commerce portal for Canadian small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
Under the program, businesses will be able to hire a student intern for a 12-week period. The intern will help improve an SME's productivity and competitiveness by adopting new information and communications technology. The government plans to place the first interns this summer.
The federal government will reimburse companies with up to 75% of the salary and cost of benefits for each intern. Anticipated spending of $17.5 million through to 2014 for the program is part of the government's youth employment strategy.
Industry Canada will soon be sending out requests for applications from organizations that want to participate as delivery agencies for the program and be responsible for selecting SMEs.