A team of researchers led by Prof. Dr. David Bendig, Kevin Lau, Dr. Julian Schulte ( Institute of Entrepreneurship at WWU Münster ) and Stefan Endriß (ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE and RWTH Aachen University) discusses the contents of the white paper "Industry 5.0 - Towards a sustainable, human-centric and resilient European industry" published by the European Commission at the beginning of 2021 in a current practice comment. The article was written as part of a third-party project funded by the Dr. Werner Jackstädt Foundation.

After mechanization, electrification and computerization, the world is currently on its way into the fourth age of industrial production: manufacturing based on digital technologies such as the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and cloud computing. This development is summarized under the term Industry 4.0, which is controversially discussed as the future of industrial manufacturing both in business practice and in research. Amid ongoing implementation difficulties in realizing Industrie 4.0, the supposed proclamation of the next industrial revolution has raised many questions. Industry 5.0 is about combining economic, environmental and social perspectives in the future of industrial manufacturing. This is intended to complement current perspectives associated with the term Industry 4.0 with the elements of human-centeredness in production and sustainable and resilient value chains. 

The practice comment by Prof. Dr. David Bendig, Kevin Lau, Dr. Julian Schulte and Stefan Endriß classifies the term Industrie 5.0 in terms of content, explains the connection with current Industrie 4.0 initiatives and thereby highlights options for the future of industrial production.

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