Perimeter’s COO Paul Smith wins top award from the Chemical Institute of Canada
Paul Smith, Perimeter Institute’s Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer, has won the 2025 Montréal Medal/Médaille de Montréal, the highest award of the Chemical Institute of Canada (CIC).
“The medal is presented as a mark of distinction and honour to a resident of Canada who has shown significant leadership in or who has made an outstanding contribution to the profession of chemistry or chemical engineering in Canada,” according to the CIC.
Smith joined Perimeter in 2021 with a wealth of experience in scientific research and management, and has played a strong leadership role at Perimeter and across the country advocating for the value of fundamental science research.
About Paul Smith
Prior to joining Perimeter, Smith was a member of the Xerox Senior Leadership Team and Vice President and Director of Xerox Global Materials Research Centre.
Smith was also the inaugural Chairman of IntelliFLEX, the Canadian Printed Electronics Industry Association, a former Director of the Board of NGen Canada, and a past Chair of the Conference Board of Canada’s Council for Innovation and Commercialization.
From 2014 to 2018, he served on Canada’s Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council Committee on Research Partnerships.
In partnership with the National Research Council of Canada, he helped create the Canadian Campus for Advanced Materials and Manufacturing, a partnership between government and industry for world-class research and development focused on commercialization of devices for the Internet of Everything and CleanTech.
Smith also served as Chair of the Chemical Institute of Canada (CIC) from 2019-2020. During the Covid pandemic and with changes at CIC during 2020-2021, he took on the role of Interim Executive Director for that organization.
He is also a Director of the Board of Mitacs, a member of the Executive Advisory Council of C2MCI and is a member of the Governing Council of the HIBAR Alliance.
Smith received his PhD in Chemistry from the University of Bath, England in 1991, and an MBA from the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto in 2001. From 1992 to 1995 he was a postdoctoral fellow in the Guillet lab at the University of Toronto.
He is a named inventor on 78 U.S. patents and has 15 publications.
Smith has given plenary and keynote talks at international conferences including InnoLAE and SEMICON.
He was also the 2023 recipient of the Canada Medal from the Society of the Chemical Industry (SCI).
About PI
Perimeter Institute is the world’s largest research hub devoted to theoretical physics. The independent Institute was founded in 1999 to foster breakthroughs in the fundamental understanding of our universe, from the smallest particles to the entire cosmos. Research at Perimeter is motivated by the understanding that fundamental science advances human knowledge and catalyzes innovation, and that today’s theoretical physics is tomorrow’s technology. Located in the Region of Waterloo, the not-for-profit Institute is a unique public-private endeavour, including the Governments of Ontario and Canada, that enables cutting-edge research, trains the next generation of scientific pioneers, and shares the power of physics through award-winning educational outreach and public engagement.
