Industrial Internship Program

Industrial Internship Program

NCBiotech created the Industrial Internship Program (IIP) in 2012. The program provides internship opportunities for undergraduates, graduate students and recent graduates in business administration or the life sciences.

These internships provide real-world work experience, which helps students transition to careers in North Carolina's growing life sciences sector. Participating companies can gain valuable assistance with a broad range of product and business development activities.

Since its inception, the Industrial Internship Program has awarded $640,000, sponsoring over 200 internship opportunities at over 100 different life sciences companies and organizations. (See our past awards database for details.)

For other inquiries about the NCBiotech Industrial Internship Program, email david_rosenthal@ncbiotech.org.

Company Process

Company Process

Whether you are a startup seeking help with your business plan, a medical device company doing prototype development, a CRO conducting clinical trials, or a pharmaceutical company preparing to launch a new product, we can help you hire the intern with the right experience.

We award grants of up to $4,000 per company annually, which help recipients hire an intern for a minimum of 120 hours over the spring or summer - roughly 10 hours per week. Grant recipients are required to submit a final report documenting work performed by the intern.

We solicit company applications every year beginning in January. If you'd like to be included on our mailing list, please email david_rosenthal@ncbiotech.org. The application form includes basic information about your company, the project or scope of work for the intern and the desired qualifications of the intern.

The best applications define a clear project or set of activities that will have a significant impact on the company and will provide valuable, hands-on work experience for the intern. We seek to provide a diverse set of opportunities for interns across the state, whether they have training in science, engineering, or business.

After selecting participating companies, we post all IIP opportunities to our career center using the description submitted by each company on their application form. We also promote the positions to university career centers and graduate programs across the state. We collect applications as they come in and forward them to the companies. The companies then interview candidates and make the final hiring decision. 

Note: Interns are employees or contractors of the company; the Biotechnology Center does not employ them.

While IIP grants are limited to $4,000, companies are encouraged to supplement the intern's salary to create full-time positions. Internships can also extend beyond the initial 12-week period if appropriate to the project and the intern's schedule.

Companies can identify their qualified candidates and use IIP funds to hire them; however, we prefer that companies direct all interested candidates to apply through our career center rather than directly to the company.

Intern Application Process

Intern Application Process

IIP internships are a great way to gain real-world work experience in North Carolina's biotechnology industry. Some IIP internships are designed for undergraduate business or science majors while others are geared toward MBA students, Ph.D. students, or postdoctoral fellows. The qualifications vary by position and are defined by each participating company. Please read each job post for details.

IIP opportunities are posted to our career center at the end of January and then shared on Facebook and X (formally Twitter). Current IIP postings can be found here

To apply, please complete this form.

Although some participating companies cannot hire foreign students, we have no restrictions for the program and encourage all students residing in North Carolina to apply.

These IIP opportunities are only available in the spring and summer. Companies use our career center throughout the year to post internships. You can also search our company directory for companies in your area that may be looking for interns.

All IIP internships are paid through grants from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center.

Program Timeline

IIP internships run during the spring and summer each year. Exact dates for 2024:

  • Beginning of open applications for interested companies - December 4
  • Companies selected and internships posted - January 12 
  • Internship application deadline - March 8
  • 2024 Final Report Form - 30 days from the end of the internship

"The internship had an amazing appeal for my biomedical career. Not only was the company a great fit in regards to the people, culture, and internship responsibilities, but it was an incredible experience to further my learning within the field."

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