Industry 5.0 – Past, Present, and Near Future

Abstract

The industrial transformation is sociotechnical. Industry 5.0 is one of the recent terms to describe this phenomenon, defined as a humanized vision of technological transformations in industry, balancing the current and future needs of the workers and society with the sustainable optimization of energy consumption, materials processing, and product lifecycles. This paper presents a tertiary study of thirty-two literature reviews on Industry 5.0, supported by a bibliometric analysis in the Scopus database. The results show three stages of Industry 5.0 research since 2018, starting with the Industry 4.0 separation. The latest priority is to deploy circular manufacturing strategies supported by human-friendly digitalization capable of anticipating and acting proactively on impacts. Therefore, Industry 5.0 is future-oriented and cross-sectoral, (interactively) diverging from the original configuration of Industry 4.0. For theory, we highlight the findings of recent literature reviews, clarifying the landscape of Industry 5.0 research and suggesting future developments. For practice, this paper presents examples of societal priorities that industries should consider in their digital transformation investments, as crucial as improving economic competitiveness.