One of the key objectives of CoP 5.0 is to connect its Members with other Industry 5.0 driven projects and initiatives. There are several Industry 5.0 driven projects under Horizon Europe programme which help accelerate principles of human-centricity, sustainability and resilience in industrial practices.
BRIDGES 5.0 project
Horizon Europe Bridges 5.0 project helps companies and stakeholders to bridge the situation from current company practices to Industry 5.0 practices. The main focus is what Industry 5.0 signifies for workforce skills. Next to more conceptual work on definitions, the project has four main activities to support the development towards Industry 5.0 workforce skills: 1.) Importance of Industry 5.0 practices in general, and try to identify what these mean for skills, health and work, performance of companies. First results show the importance of the ‘learning organisation’ as a means to make organisations more flexible and resilient; 2.) To identify which skills are requested by Industry 5.0 companies. This result is based on identifying Industry 5.0 practices in vacancy information, ESG-reports, collective agreements, personnel ratings of companies etc. The result is that it is possible to identify Industry 5.0 practices and how they lead to different skills requirements. The project is working on mapping these skills demands; 3.) To translate the project results into practical interventions for companies (Training Factory) and networks (Learning Factory); 4.) To build with stakeholders a ‘platform Industry 5.0’ and to align these activities with the Community of Practice Industry 5.0 and other Industry 5.0 projects.
SURE5.0 project
SURE5.0 aims to support SMEs operating in Mobility, Transport & Automotive, Aerospace & Defence and Electronics ecosystems, to integrate in their manufacturing processes the industry 5.0 principles, in order to become more human-centric, sustainable and resilient.
For this aim, the project fosters the adoption and deployment of advanced technologies as well as the consideration of social innovation practices that will facilitate their twin transition (digital and green).
SURE5.0 supported 53 SMEs all over Europe, with cascade funds up to 50 000 euros for each company and tailor-made support services (training, technical services, matchmaking, investment readiness support).
SEISMEC project
Horizon Europe's SEISMEC project aims to demonstrate an empowered, human-centric and ethical development of digital and industrial technologies in 17 pilots from 14 countries across 14 industrial ecosystems. It does so through a two-way engagement in the development of technologies, empowering end-users and workers, and supporting social innovation, in a process labelled the SEISMEC shift. The two-way engagement introduces technical innovations such as explainability, co-development, feedback methods and interfaces to enhance human centrism, but also incorporates plans, needs and innovations from companies and their workers steering them towards an empowered human-centric Industry 5.0 path.
SEISMEC will contribute to increased inclusiveness, by supporting a human-centric approach to technology development that is aligned with European social and ethical values. The benefits of human centrism will be measured in Creativity, Collaboration, Autonomy, Automation, Productivity, Privacy, Safety and job Satisfaction, the CAPS empowerment factors for human-centrism.
SEISMEC pilots are representative of European industrial sectors and company sizes, a broad spectrum of European countries and worker roles. Every industrial enterprise in Europe will be able to see some aspect of their activity reflected in SEISMECs pilots and will be able to learn from the project’s outputs through an active campaign of cross-sector empowerment practices exchange. With a strong engagement of European, national and local stakeholders, SEISMEC is landmark effort in European industry’s shift to empowerment and human-centrism, one that puts the worker and European Values at the core of its global competitiveness.
AIREDGIO5.0 project
AIREDGIO5.0 is an Innovation Action in Horizon Europe, cluster 4, Destination I Twin Transition, under the Made in Europe Partnership. Focus of the project is to support the Twin Transition (Digital Green) of Manufacturing SMEs, according to the I4MS (ICT Innovation for Manufacturing SMEs) mission. More in particular, the project is addressing the adoption of "AI at the Edge" solutions in regional Digital Innovation Hubs (DIH4INDUSTRY platform and D BEST service portfolio analysis Data Business Ecosystem Skills Test-before-invest) where solution providers, Universities, Research Centers, Private and Public Investors collaborate for the competitiveness of EU Manufacturing SMEs in the Global Market, according to the Industry 5.0 paradigm. More in particular, the project is developing methods and tools for the assessment of the maturity of Manufacturing SMEs regarding Resilience and Sustainability (6P Method Product Process Platform People Partnership Performance) and an innovative framework for Data/AI roles-professions analysis and skills development program (Human-centric Manufacturing). Finally, in the Test Before Invest category, the project is developing TEchnology and REgulatory SAndboxes (TERESA) where AI at the edge technologies are experimented with human workers in order to imporve the workplace WISE aspects (Wellbeing, Inclusiveness, Safety, Ergonomics).
Up-Skill Project
Up-skill project is shaped around two key concepts: managerial intent and the distinction between automation, a 4.0 ethic, and augmentation, a 5.0 ethic. The project's research focuses on the relationships between technology change, organizational context, managerial mind-set, digital, semi-digital and analogue machines, skills and practices. The findings are termed Strange Mixed Ecologies – not an ongoing industry 4.0 ‘transformation’, but a complex interweaving of old and new practices and skills, region, old and new technologies and old and new organizational forms; 0.0, 2.0, 4.0, and 5.0. Human-centricity, in particular, requires a rounded view of organization design and managerial ethos; one that preserves, recognizes and enhances the availability of old and as well as new skills.
Key 5.0. takeaways from the project:
- Managers have divergent conceptions of what 5.0 is and how it should be enacted. At the same time, 5.0 practices amongst managers who would not themselves use the term Industry 5.0.. 5.0 is, therefore, a loose signifier, an emergent phenomenon and varied set of practices and ethics that are not necessarily labelled as 5.0. by managers.
- 5.0 ethics should shape how technologies are used and deployed, rather than necessarily only defining particular types of technology. However, there is a tendency amongst firms to define 5.0 in solely technological terms – such as human-robot collaboration. Deciding not to adopt a particular technology may also be a 5.0 choice.
- Managers tended to overestimate the ability of technology to solve operational problems and, relatedly, to under-estimate the levels of skill required to perform manufacturing tasks. This led to misplaced investment in automation and a drift away from 5.0.. Recognizing and valuing the skills required to perform even mundane work, reflects 5.0 thinking.
- The recruitment and retention of skilled workers was a critical issue for all of the case study firms. Automation and control technology was typically seen as a solution to this. This contextual factor encourages a drift away from 5.0 practices.
The core project design comprises longitudinal case studies of a range of firms. The cases run from the large and advanced, such as Ford in the UK and Alfa Laval in Sweden, through to small manufacturing firms such as Ztift in Sweden and Webber in Germany, through to artisanal firms in Italy. By studying this range of firms, and by employing detailed longitudinal ethnographic methods, the project is identifying how managerial choices around technology are shaped by the context of the firms and the consequences of these choices, as they reverberate back through the firm, leading to new managerial insight and action, the identification of new skills requirements and highlighting of areas where the preservation of existing skills requires attention. The ethnographies are being run by Anglia Ruskin University (Ford and Webber), Mälardalen University (Alfa Laval, Ztift) and University of Milan (Pipe Savinelli, Victoria Accordions, Attolini and Aurora Penne in Italy) with Mälardalen leading the project.
Running parallel with the ethnographic research is a second vital strand of work, delivered by Lancaster University, The Welding Institute (TWI) in the UK and MITC in Sweden. Here we have been engaging with the same case study sites, but to deliver technical support to the firms in advancing their technology base. The ethnographers have then followed the socio-material and organizational changes, learning and opportunities afforded by these changes.
In the final phase (January to September, 2025) the project is focused on untangling the processes by which new skills come to be identified and instantiated by our case organizations. Our aim is not to map required future skills, but rather to point to the processes and actions that allow firms to navigate worker, technical and managerial skills-gaps in a technological landscape. The project considers industry 5.0 as a crucial managerial mind-set that interweaves human-centricity, firm resilience (firm eco-system balance) and sustainability, into a consistent strategic and planning outlook. The project is developing subsidiary managerial training underpinned by a 5.0 ethic as well as an AI-driven platform to make the project results and data available in a controlled and safe way.