2025

Kamalabai Nampuraja Enose; Hannola Lea; Donoghue Ilkka

While the advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) promised to fundamentally change the industry in terms of its value creation in a sustainably responsible manner, its focus has largely been confined to technology adoption. It thereby focuses less on the original principles of sustainability, prompting industries worldwide to broaden their focus beyond productivity and profitability and achieve sustainable outcomes. The recent paradigm shifts have only brought to light the limits of such a techno-centric approach. The industry, therefore, acknowledges the necessity for a course correction, stimulating deliberations on the concepts of “Industry 5.0” and “Society 5.0,” underlining the real need to move beyond a technology-only purview, seeking to balance economics with social and environmental performance. Achieving this balance requires adaptation of the traditional linear model to a circular operational model while harnessing the foundational principles of Industry 4.0 to reflect changes through a circularly interconnected perspective. This shift involves advancing mutual cognitive coordination between humans and intelligent systems (cyber-physical systems), fostering resilience, sustainability, and a human-centric approach to technological development and implementation. This embodies the essence of Industry 5.0, a future evolution where human creativity collaborates alongside efficient, intelligent, and accurate machines, in the transition to a value-centric paradigm. While a standard approach to embedding these complexities is still developing, Industry 5.0 advocates using artificial intelligence (AI) as the backbone to transform human–machine interaction into a collaborative cognitive system. Together, they can drive a human-centric sustainable development within the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.