Connecting Canada’s Advanced Materials
and Nano Community for a Global Impact

VALUES:
Create. Collaborate. Serve

Creating community through a collaborative network and serving its members through relationship building and a passion for promoting Canada’s excellence in science, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

NanoCanada has an exceptional national and international reputation and network that it uses to showcase and launch Canadian innovators in advanced materials and nanotechnology. NanoCanada delivers significant economic impact thanks to its strong leadership and experience, identifying gaps in the Canadian innovation ecosystem, and developing programs to support its community.

One of the great benefits of membership in NanoCanada is the cross‐disciplinary, cross‐sectoral, nature of advanced materials and nanotechnology which impact almost every aspect of our lives; everything from cosmetics to climate change solutions, precision agriculture to exploring life on Mars. NanoCanada has members from coast to coast in all sectors that work to support the development of a dynamic and healthy society.

NanoCanada has a set number of goals to respond to the needs of its stakeholder community:

Marie D’Iorio is a Senior Strategy Advisor with the Office of the Vice President Research at the University of Ottawa and is President of NanoCanada. Prior to joining the University of Ottawa, she led the National Institute for Nanotechnology (2011-2016) and the Institute for Microstructural Sciences (2003-2011) at the National Research Council of Canada (NRC). Dr. D’Iorio obtained a Master’s and a Doctorate degree in Solid State Physics from the University of Toronto. After a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at IBM Zurich Research Laboratories, she joined the NRC, where she established Canada’s first very low temperature, high magnetic field laboratory to study quantum semiconductor devices and later led one of Canada’s first research programs on organic light emitting devices.

In 2015 she launched NanoCanada, to connect the nanotechnology community across the country and to facilitate partnerships and collaborations between academia, industry and government linking facilities and expertise to support the translation of scientific breakthroughs to the marketplace. She has served as President of the Academy of Science of the Royal Society of Canada and President of the Canadian Association of Physicists.

Janice Warkentin is the Director of Business Development, Corporate Board Secretary for NanoCanada, and is Secretary of the International Standards Organization for Standardization’s Terminology and Nomenclature joint working group (TC/229 and IEC/TC113).  Janice started her career working for non-profit organizations. She moved to the federal government and now has over a decade of experience working for both the Canadian House of Commons and the National Research Council. Her experience includes communications, stakeholder engagement and consultation, public relations, and business development.  Janice has been with NanoCanada since the launch of the program in 2015 and has been instrumental in building and developing a global network of industry, government, and academic connections.  She travels regularly to Asia, Europe, and North America, leading delegations that showcase Canadian excellence in emerging technologies.

Janice also has volunteered on several community boards and served as corporate secretary and chair of church and school councils.

Patricia I. Tokunaga is the Director of Operations at NanoCanada. Patricia oversees the business functions of NanoCanada and has been part of the NanoCanada team since it launched in 2015. She is responsible for implementing strategic initiatives within NanoCanada and engaging a wide range of stakeholders. Patricia is passionate about helping member companies find ways to connect with partners all around the globe. Her experience comes from working in a wide range of corporate, non-profit, and government environments in various roles. She holds a management degree with a major in international management from the University of Lethbridge and holds a Facilities Management Administrator designation.