Hussam Haroun has joined Vineland Research and Innovation Centre (Vineland) as director of automation. In his new role, Haroun will oversee Vineland’s activities related to automation, artificial intelligence and digital agriculture technologies. 

He launched his own start-up after patenting and commercializing a new technology during graduate school. As CEO, he secured more than $3 million in seed investment and grew the company to 30 employees with multimillion dollar annual revenues. 

Haroun holds a Masters of Engineering, Entrepreneurship and Innovation from McMaster University and has experience in the telecommunications industry, managing multi-million dollar projects with Rogers Communications as a senior design engineer. 

Vineland is home to a national automation research cluster supported by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Vineland researchers are leading three projects focused on horticulture: developing smart wireless irrigation technologies for potted plants, automating greenhouse cucumber harvest and developing a robotic solution for automated mushroom harvesting. 

Vineland holds a leading role in the Canadian Agri-Food Automation and Intelligence Network (CAAIN), which was announced last year by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada to bring together academia, research institutions and the private sector to accelerate automation and digitization in Canadian agriculture. 

Source: Vineland Research & Innovation Centre February 5, 2020 news release