Dr. Dan Wayner is a retired scientist and public sector executive. He received his BSc (Chemistry) from McMaster University in 1980 and a PhD (Chemistry) from Dalhousie University in 1984.
Following a successful research career at NRC (1984-2001), Dr. Wayner shifted his focus to R&D management as founding Director General of the National Institute for Nanotechnology in Edmonton (2001-2003) and later Director General of the NRC Steacie Institute for Molecular Sciences (2003-2010). He served as VP Emerging Technologies at theNRC (2010-2016) and following a short period of retirement, returned to NRC as the Chief Science Officer and Departmental Science Advisor (2018-2022). Dan retired from the NRC at the end of June 2022.
Dan’s contributions to science have been recognized with a number of awards including the Rutherford Medal – Chemistry of the Royal Society of Canada (1999) and election as a Fellow to the Royal Society of Canada and to the Chemical Institute of Canada.
As VP Emerging Technologies, Dan had executive oversight of some of Canada’s large scale science facilities (astronomical observatories, TRIUMF) as well as STI programs in optical telecom, digital technologies, nanotechnologies, attosecondtechnologies, metrology and advanced materials. He established a partnership with Xerox Corporation that led to the first physical presence of NRC in the GTA (Mississauga). As Chief Science Officer, established a technology horizon scanning capability at NRC that continues to support strategic planning.
Dan has a deep understanding of the complex relationship between R&D, innovation, productivity and the STI policy landscape in Canada.