Industry 5.0 research towards a circular economy and community building

Project period
July 2023 – June 2024

Objective
The overall goal of this seed project is to lay the groundwork for a comprehensive EU and national research proposal aimed at advancing Industry 5.0, focusing on promoting a green transition through digitalization, fostering collaboration between specialists and stakeholders in industrial systems, and facilitating innovative business transformations. The project aspires to make a significant impact on sustainability and resource efficiency across various industries by exploring how digitalization can support CO2 and waste reduction through a circular transformation.

Based on this goal, we propose the following objectives:

• Objective 1: Pave the way for both an EU and a national research proposal in the direction of Industry 5.0, with specific emphasis towards a green transition and how digitalization can support CO2 and waste reduction through a circular transformation.
• Objective 2: Strengthen the research community in the Digitalized Industry at Digital Futures with special emphasis on bridging the gaps between specialists and stakeholders involved in industrial systems, digitalization, and circular economy; this objective also relates to strengthening and creating new connections between KTH/SU/RISE researchers with industry and other relevant external organizations.
• Objective 3: Facilitate innovative business transformations by developing new business models and value chains.

Background
Industry 4.0 has shifted the manufacturing industries significantly towards digitalization. It uses cyber-physical systems to integrate information and communication technologies into production and automation. This has transformed industrial practices greatly, but it has lacked focus on social aspects. In addition, industries will have to meet the climate and sustainability targets. Industry 5.0 – or Society 5.0 – aims to address social and sustainability challenges with the help of the integration of physical and virtual spaces that would be achieved by Industry 4.0. Together with technological evolution, the societal characteristics of the social generations have evolved, too. Now, we put the attention to the industrial transformation from the technology-centric view of Industry 4.0 towards a socio-technical and sustainable view of Industry 5.0.

Crossdisciplinary collaboration
The project will engage a mix of experts and stakeholders through workshops and funding proposal development. It is designed to unite various disciplines in driving forward the vision of Industry 5.0 and the green transition.