Up-Skill for Industry 5.0

Project owner: Mälardalens Universitet TWI Limited
Funding: Horizon Europe
Participating actors: ALFA LAVAL TUMBA AB ANGLIA RUSKIN UNIVERSITY HIGHER EDUCATION CORPORATION FORD MOTOR COMPANY LIMITED Helekopter AB KNEIA SL Mälardalen Industrial Technology Center SOCIEDAD LIMITADA UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI MILANO UNIVERSITY OF LANCASTER WEBBER BRENNERTECHNIK GMBH Ztift AB
Project duration: August 2022 until August 2025

The target of the project is to support employers with their workforce challenges, including job creation and talent retention. The Up-Skill project will address the balance between humans and technology, focussing on the collaborative relationship between skilled workers and automation.

The 4th Industrial Revolution, also known as Industry 4.0, has enabled unseen reduction of production costs, mass customisation, and improved consistency of product quality. However, it has proven that automation alone clearly cannot be a source of sustained competitive advantage due to omitting the critical skilled human elements in business success.

At the human level, Industry 4.0 is often associated with fear of job cuts and even complete replacing of human workforce in some sectors.

Industry 5.0 is anticipated to be the re-humanisation of the movement towards automation. It’s the acknowledgement that both robotic and automated advances and creativity, innovation, and questioning of the human being are equally valuable in the manufacturing process.

Over the course of the Up-Skill project, MITC will focus on developing a better understanding of how businesses, particularly in industrial/manufacturing environments, could lever value from human and machine integration.

Utilizing its expertise in advanced robotics, cyber-physical systems, and artificial intelligence MITC will help businesses to integrate those capabilities with human elements such as creativity, ingenuity, artisanal skills. MITC will support companies, including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in identifying their skill needs. Apart from range of existing training and coaching programs, new upskilling and reskilling programmes will be offered to meet the needs of employers.