A detailed examination of construction blueprints under dramatic lighting.

As part of its legacy for the future, Bridges 5.0 is drawing on nearly four years of research, industry engagement and stakeholder dialogue to map out a plan for upscaling Industry 5.0 across Europe.

The Bridges 5.0 upscaling plan is summarised below, providing a key focus for discussion at the Final Conference in Brussels on 1st October.

Purpose

This plan sets out a practical, evidence-based route for turning Industry 5.0 ambition into coordinated action at scale across Europe. It is grounded in findings from BRIDGES 5.0 Policy Briefs (available under https://bridges5-0.eu/publications/) and designed with the active participation of regional and national platforms in several European countries.

Industry 5.0 signposts a European economy that is globally competitive, sustainable and resilient against shocks, a vision realised by harnessing and developing workforce talent to the fullest possible extent. Yet without the alignment of companies, education and training providers, research organisations, public authorities, social partners and intermediary organisations in interconnected regional, national and European ecosystems, the vision remains nothing more than words on a page.

Upscaling Industry 5.0 is not primarily about the uptake of new technologies. It is about building the organisational, workforce and ecosystem capabilities that enable technology to produce better outcomes for people, the environment and industrial resilience.

Our plan aims to scale Industry 5.0 by making human-centricity, sustainability and resilience practical, supported by a policy environment abundant in resources for workplace learning, technological experimentation and organisational innovation.

Building a Strategic Approach

Firms cannot upscale Industry 5.0 alone. Education providers, research organisations, employers, employees, social partners, technology centres and public agencies must co-design pathways for workforce learning and organisational transformation, putting workers at the centre.

Human-centricity means redesigning organisations in ways that lead to better jobs, strengthening employee autonomy by adapting technology to people whilst supporting wellbeing. The core principle in our approach is to combine digital technology adoption with organisational learning, employee participation, skills development and workplace innovation. It goes far beyond merely retraining workers to meet the needs of technology-led systems. 

Evidence from BRIDGES 5.0 indicates the need to shift from a supply side training approach to one based on experiential learning in which new competencies and new forms of work organisation are created alongside each other by addressing real world challenges and opportunities. An organisation’s learning capacity plays a central role in successful technology adoption whilst enhancing job quality, stable employment, worker well-being and meaningful work.

BRIDGES 5.0 shows that powerful interventions such as Teaching and Learning Factories build learning capacity by blending the tacit knowledge and creativity of employees with generic external knowledge, leading to the simultaneous adoption of technological and workplace innovations and the acquisition of new competencies.

Upscaling does not mean replicating one uniform model. Sectors, regions, firms and workforce groups begin from different positions. Upscaling requires modular, place-sensitive pathways rather than a single prescriptive roadmap (BRIDGES 5.0 Policy Brief 4 available at https://bridges5-0.eu/publications/). This highlights the importance of building and strengthening regional ecosystems, supported by co-ordinated funding, knowledge-sharing and accreditation at European level.

Three Scaling Phases

Regional Industry 5.0 transformation typically unfolds in three sequential phases, moving from initial mobilisation through capacity-building to full institutionalisation across the ecosystem.

1. Mobilise and prepare

Regions should map relevant actors and existing infrastructure to establish an Industry 5.0 coalition, and to define a joint regional roadmap. BRIDGES 5.0 shows that many firms already practice elements of Industry 5.0 without using the label. Existing good practices should be mapped, analysed and shared as part of an assessment of company readiness across the region.

A campaign of awareness activities  should be supported by existing public-private partnerships and regional intermediaries should show how Industry 5.0 can address practical challenges such as skills shortages, employee retention, resource efficiency, supply-chain risks, and technological change.

Actions

I. Engage managers, educators and social partners as well as workers in developing understanding and competencies relating to Industry 5.0, as successful implementation depends on leadership, work design, employee participation, and change-management capability.

II. Integrate the three Industry 5.0 pillars in company strategies and regional support programmes, rather than treating sustainability, human-centricity, and resilience as separate initiatives.

III. Use social dialogue and stakeholder cooperation to shape skills, technology adoption and working conditions collectively.

 

2. Build regional capacity to deliver Industry 5.0

Regions should invest in Learning Factory 5.0 hubs, expertise in competence development, modular learning offers, SME support, and company-based transformation pilots. These pilots should involve workers, managers, and engineers, and should address both technical and organisational change (BRIDGES 5.0 Policy Brief 4 available at https://bridges5-0.eu/publications/).

Actions

IV. Fund shared regional Learning Factory 5.0 infrastructure through the transformation of existing VET provision and/or the creation of new innovation hubs. Companies (especially SMEs) are unlikely to finance such transformation capacity alone.

V. Support companies (especially SMEs) with advisory services, shared facilities, peer-to-peer learning networks, learning opportunities, and access to demonstration projects.

VI. Support cultural and organisational change. Technical training and curriculum reform are insufficient by themselves. Managers, educators and intermediaries also need the capacity to lead participative and values-driven transformation.

VII. Embed continuous learning in transformation, connecting skills development with workplace change, job redesign and business strategy.

VIII. Prioritise inclusive lifelong learning for groups that often receive less training, including lower-qualified, manual, and temporary workers.

 

3. Scale and institutionalise

Successful pilots should be transferred across companies, sectors, and supply chains through peer-learning networks and communities of practice. Regional approaches should be embedded in regional development plans, mainstream innovation, skills, employment, climate, and smart-specialisation policies, whilst mechanisms such as the Industry 5.0 platform on Fresh Thinking Labs exchange methods and evidence at European level (BRIDGES 5.0 Policy Brief 4 and BRIDGES 5.0 Policy Brief 5. available at https://bridges5-0.eu/publications/).

Actions

IX. Scale through experimentation and feedback. Industry 5.0 is still developing. Pilots should be evaluated, adapted and then transferred through networks, benchmarking and shared platforms rather than replicated mechanically.

X. Measure and share results through common indicators for learning, innovation, job quality, inclusion, sustainability and resilience.

 

Co-ordinating Mechanisms

At European level, the Industry 5.0 Community of Practice (CoP) provides the principal co-ordination mechanism, connecting regional, national and transnational action, aligning initiatives and preventing fragmentation or duplication. It brings together policymakers, businesses, social partners, education and training providers, researchers and intermediary organisations to compare experience, identify shared priorities and develop practical approaches that can be adapted to different regional and sectoral contexts. By maintaining a regular flow of evidence between local experimentation and European policy, the Community of Practice can also help expose gaps in provision, connect complementary programmes and ensure that lessons from successful pilots inform future funding, standards and support measures.

The Industry 5.0 platform on Fresh Thinking Labs (access the platform here) is pivotal to this effort, providing an accessible European space for community building, knowledge exchange, dialogue and collaborative ideation. It enables participants to share case studies, practical tools, evidence and emerging lessons; form thematic and place-based working groups; and connect organisations seeking partners for pilots, peer learning and joint initiatives. Through online discussions, events and curated resources, the platform can turn fragmented knowledge into a cumulative and actionable knowledge resource. It can also strengthen links between regional ecosystems, and help fresh thinking and practice to travel across sectors and borders without losing sensitivity to local contexts.

Specific groups targeted by the platform are grouped into three tiers, with specific content for each:

Tier

Target Group

Content

First

Industry 4.0 networks

Identification of skills needs and guidance for the development of potential solutions, e.g. Teaching & Learning Factories.

Public-Private Development Coalitions

Second

Companies

Actionable knowledge including evidence, case studies, practical tools and e-learning resources to support workplace transformation.

Research communities

Searchable, themed Knowledge Bank with a curated collection of articles and publications relating to all aspects of I5.0, plus repository, overview and synthesis of outcomes from past and present Horizon projects.

Labour market organisations

Research providing actionable insights into labour market transformation resulting from the twin transitions.

VET providers

Practical guidance on course content and the design and delivery of Industry 5.0 delivery mechanisms such as Teaching & Learning Factories.

Social partners

Guidance and case studies on collective bargaining relating to Industry 5.0; sharing good practice between social partners.

Policymakers

(EU, National, regional, sectoral)

Evidence relating to the impact of Industry 5.0 on major policy goals including competitiveness, productivity, technology adoption, innovation, sustainability, European sovereignty, workforce health and wellbeing, social inclusion; comparisons between different approaches to policy intervention.

Third

Larger public

Gateway website at https://industry5-0.net/ targets students, young people and workers, aimed at a basic understanding of Industry 5.0 with links to further resources.

 

During 2027, a new form of governance will be introduced in which ownership of the Industry 5.0 platform will move from Workplace Innovation CLG to a consortium of partners closely linked to the CoP, enabling its potential to be fully realised as a one-stop location for awareness raising, community building, knowledge exchange, dialogue, e-learning ideation relating to Industry 5.0

Together, the Community of Practice and the Industry 5.0 platform will build an engaged multidisciplinary community that links participating regions with existing Industry 4.0 networks, sectoral and regional Skills Alliances, Centres of Vocational Excellence, Smart Specialisation regions, the European Pact for Skills, and relevant initiatives including BRIDGES 5.0, INCENTIVISE5.0, SEISMEC, PROSPECTS 5.0 and SHIFT 5.0.

Expected Results

BRIDGES 5.0 points to an upscaling strategy that is human-centred, participative, ecosystem-based, tailored and iterative. Its central message is that Industry 5.0 will scale when policy enables organisations to combine digital innovation with better work, continuous learning, sustainability and resilience, not when it simply promotes another industrial label

Within five years, participating regions should have established durable Industry 5.0 partnerships, accessible shared learning infrastructure, repeatable company transformation programmes, targeted SME support, recognised learning pathways, and links to wider European networks. This would create a scalable but regionally adaptable pathway from isolated Industry 5.0 initiatives towards sustained industrial transformation.

Seven Key Questions for the Final Conference

  1. From ambition to action: What are the most important steps Europe and its regions should take now to turn Industry 5.0 from a compelling vision into coordinated action at scale?
  2. Regional capacity: What can we realistically expect from Industry 5.0 coalitions at regional level, and how can they be created, resourced and sustained?
  3. Social dialogue and social partners: Can social dialogue and the active involvement of social partners help to shape fair, inclusive and effective pathways for upscaling Industry 5.0, particularly in relation to skills, job quality, technology adoption and organisational change?
  4. Role of the Community of Practice: What role should the Industry 5.0 Community of Practice play after BRIDGES 5.0 in connecting regions, aligning initiatives, sharing evidence and translating lessons from local experimentation into European policy and practice?
  5. Platform ownership and governance: What role can the Industry 5.0 platform play in upscaling Industry 5.0? Who should own, govern and sustain it after BRIDGES 5.0, and what arrangements would ensure inclusive participation, transparent decision-making, accountability and effective European coordination?
  6. Future role of the European Commission: What should we expect from the European Commission in terms of its future role in steering and resourcing Industry 5.0 upscaling?

Commitment after BRIDGES 5.0: What concrete contribution can each organisation represented at this Conference make during the next twelve months, and what measurable change should be visible within five years?

Leave A Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Related articles