Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SME 5.0 (A Strategic Roadmap Towards the Next Level of Intelligent, Sustainable and Human-Centred SMEs)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2023-01-01 al 2024-12-31
SME 5.0 is one of the first larger projects conducting specific research to prepare SMEs for Industry 5.0. SMEs are the backbone of Europeans (and worldwide) economy. Increased awareness of industrial companies in Industry 5.0 topics will improve their processes by integrating not only digitalization but also sustainability, ethical aspects as well as a socio/human centred perspective in their strategic improvement plans.
INTELLIGENT SME FACTORIES:
Although SMEs now have technologies for gathering and managing huge amounts of data, they still face difficulties in exploiting this data. One aim of the next level for SMEs is to create intelligent SME factories, enabled by cybersecure data analytics and artificial intelligence. Cybersecurity and Biological Transformation in manufacturing will also be addressed by the SME 5.0 project. Society 5.0 and Industry 5 0 are terms that describe a societal revolution using advanced IT technologies, loT robots, Al or augmented reality Industry 5.0 aims to accelerate the twin green and digital transitions of industry to build a more sustainable and resilient society and economy, by making production more respectful of the planet and placing the well-being of industrial workers at the center of the production process.
SUSTAINABLE SME FACTORIES:
Second SME 5.0 also focuses on creating sustainable SME factones, SMEs are important for the European economy and the environment, but their cumulative environmental impact is considerable. Thus, the re- design of traditional SME factories into sustainable ones is a challenge that SME 5.0 aims to address. Additionally, Industry 5.0 is an EC strategy to accelerate the twin green and digital transitions of industry to build a more sustainable and resilient society and economy. The Industry 5.0 approach contributes to the European Commission's priorities of an economy that works for people the European Green Deal, and Europe fit for the digital age.
HUMAN-CENTRED SME FACTORIES:
Third, SMEs need to become human-centered entrepreneurs and adapt to the work of the future. This involves identifying the competencies and skill sets required for future roles and upskilling the existing workforce. Operators need to be trained in Operator 4.0 skills, and workplaces should be inclusive and diverse improving working conditions and introducing technologies that empower workers and compensate for deficits are also important goals. SME 5.0 will provide guidelines for achieving these objectives.
SME 5.0 focuses on providing a Strategic Roadmap Towards the Next Level of Intelligent, Sustainable and Human-Centred SMEs consisting of six main General Research Objectives:
1. Building an SME 5.0 Stakeholder & Training Network for increasing project sustainability and impact
2. Empirical Research to identify SME Requirements and Barriers/Limitations for introducing Industry 5.0
3. Development of an Industry 5.0 Assessment to facilitate SMEs evaluating their current status
4. Development of an Online Platform
5. Roll-Out Blueprint for a structured and systematic roll-out of Industry 5.0 in SMEs Z (Empirical Research) for accelerating the transition of European SMEs towards Industry 5.0 Implementation Guidelines of Industry 5.0
6. Recommendations to the EC, policy makers and related stakeholders based on results of Objective 2 (Empirical Research) for accelerating the transition of European SMEs towards Industry 5.0
INTELLIGENT SME FACTORIES:
Although SMEs now have technologies for gathering and managing huge amounts of data, they still face difficulties in exploiting this data. One aim of the next level for SMEs is to create intelligent SME factories, enabled by cybersecure data analytics and artificial intelligence. Cybersecurity and Biological Transformation in manufacturing will also be addressed by the SME 5.0 project. Society 5.0 and Industry 5 0 are terms that describe a societal revolution using advanced IT technologies, loT robots, Al or augmented reality Industry 5.0 aims to accelerate the twin green and digital transitions of industry to build a more sustainable and resilient society and economy, by making production more respectful of the planet and placing the well-being of industrial workers at the center of the production process.
SUSTAINABLE SME FACTORIES:
Second SME 5.0 also focuses on creating sustainable SME factones, SMEs are important for the European economy and the environment, but their cumulative environmental impact is considerable. Thus, the re- design of traditional SME factories into sustainable ones is a challenge that SME 5.0 aims to address. Additionally, Industry 5.0 is an EC strategy to accelerate the twin green and digital transitions of industry to build a more sustainable and resilient society and economy. The Industry 5.0 approach contributes to the European Commission's priorities of an economy that works for people the European Green Deal, and Europe fit for the digital age.
HUMAN-CENTRED SME FACTORIES:
Third, SMEs need to become human-centered entrepreneurs and adapt to the work of the future. This involves identifying the competencies and skill sets required for future roles and upskilling the existing workforce. Operators need to be trained in Operator 4.0 skills, and workplaces should be inclusive and diverse improving working conditions and introducing technologies that empower workers and compensate for deficits are also important goals. SME 5.0 will provide guidelines for achieving these objectives.
SME 5.0 focuses on providing a Strategic Roadmap Towards the Next Level of Intelligent, Sustainable and Human-Centred SMEs consisting of six main General Research Objectives:
1. Building an SME 5.0 Stakeholder & Training Network for increasing project sustainability and impact
2. Empirical Research to identify SME Requirements and Barriers/Limitations for introducing Industry 5.0
3. Development of an Industry 5.0 Assessment to facilitate SMEs evaluating their current status
4. Development of an Online Platform
5. Roll-Out Blueprint for a structured and systematic roll-out of Industry 5.0 in SMEs Z (Empirical Research) for accelerating the transition of European SMEs towards Industry 5.0 Implementation Guidelines of Industry 5.0
6. Recommendations to the EC, policy makers and related stakeholders based on results of Objective 2 (Empirical Research) for accelerating the transition of European SMEs towards Industry 5.0
In the first year of the project the following activities were performed:
• Organisation of a Kick-Off meeting in Sweden and an annual meeting in Malta
• Elaboration of project marketing materials
• A governance structure and the activities of the Stakeholder & Training Network (STN)
• A literature review has been conducted to identify general needs and barriers in scientific literature
• A design decomposition has been elaborated for top-down decomposition of functional requirements
• Elaboration of a survey for identifying requirements and barriers for introducing Industry 5.0 in SMEs
• A standardized methodology has been elaborated for the conduction of SME Workshops to confirm the deduced catalogue of solutions
• Organization of SME Workshops
• SME 5.0 Doctoral Winter School in 2024 in Bolzano, Italy
• Organization of Special Sessions on SME 5.0 at International Conferences
• Preparation of manuscripts and publications for conferences and journal articles
• Organisation of a Kick-Off meeting in Sweden and an annual meeting in Malta
• Elaboration of project marketing materials
• A governance structure and the activities of the Stakeholder & Training Network (STN)
• A literature review has been conducted to identify general needs and barriers in scientific literature
• A design decomposition has been elaborated for top-down decomposition of functional requirements
• Elaboration of a survey for identifying requirements and barriers for introducing Industry 5.0 in SMEs
• A standardized methodology has been elaborated for the conduction of SME Workshops to confirm the deduced catalogue of solutions
• Organization of SME Workshops
• SME 5.0 Doctoral Winter School in 2024 in Bolzano, Italy
• Organization of Special Sessions on SME 5.0 at International Conferences
• Preparation of manuscripts and publications for conferences and journal articles
The first analysis phase of the project covers the years 2023-2024. In the first 12 months of the project, the focus was set on the set-up of communication instruments and channels as well as the organization of the project structure and operational activities in the kick-off meeting. Further a survey has been developed for conducting empirical research as well as a workshop has been conducted for piloting SME workshops in the partner countries. These activities supported not only to increase the visibility of the project but created also interest of SMEs to participate and to follow the ongoing activities in the project.
The main progress beyond state of the art in this initial period was achieved in the identification of the needs and barriers of SMEs regarding introduction of Industry 5.0 which is one of the main project objectives and not yet available in existing literature on SMEs. Those needs/barriers have been transformed in a top-down design decomposition not available yet in scientific/managerial literature. This first draft shows already an important instrument for SME companies to better understand what Industry 5.0 is and how it can be achieved based on a set of tangible measures.
A next progress, especially on impact for industry, has been achieved by organizing SME workshops in the consortium countries. C-level executives and experts from industry discuss together needs and barriers as well as potential use cases and applications of Industry 5.0 solutions in industry. Mainly the results of the workshops showed, that SMEs (but also larger industries) actually struggle to implement Industry 5.0 in practice and confirmed the importance of the SME 5.0 project for developing methods and technical solutions for facilitating and accelerating this process.
A survey based empirical research as well as the results from SME workshops will be summarized in 2025 in a report / White Paper with recommendations to policy makers and stakeholders.
The next 2 years of the project (2025-2026) are dedicated to a synthesis and the elaboration of actions and best practice examples how to implement Industry 5.0 in a systematic way. Based on the results of the analysis in the first project phase research concentrates its effort on the development of SME specific and concrete roadmaps and guidelines for SMEs for implementing Industry 5.0 as well as testing solutions through lab demonstrators as well as case studies in industry.
The main progress beyond state of the art in this initial period was achieved in the identification of the needs and barriers of SMEs regarding introduction of Industry 5.0 which is one of the main project objectives and not yet available in existing literature on SMEs. Those needs/barriers have been transformed in a top-down design decomposition not available yet in scientific/managerial literature. This first draft shows already an important instrument for SME companies to better understand what Industry 5.0 is and how it can be achieved based on a set of tangible measures.
A next progress, especially on impact for industry, has been achieved by organizing SME workshops in the consortium countries. C-level executives and experts from industry discuss together needs and barriers as well as potential use cases and applications of Industry 5.0 solutions in industry. Mainly the results of the workshops showed, that SMEs (but also larger industries) actually struggle to implement Industry 5.0 in practice and confirmed the importance of the SME 5.0 project for developing methods and technical solutions for facilitating and accelerating this process.
A survey based empirical research as well as the results from SME workshops will be summarized in 2025 in a report / White Paper with recommendations to policy makers and stakeholders.
The next 2 years of the project (2025-2026) are dedicated to a synthesis and the elaboration of actions and best practice examples how to implement Industry 5.0 in a systematic way. Based on the results of the analysis in the first project phase research concentrates its effort on the development of SME specific and concrete roadmaps and guidelines for SMEs for implementing Industry 5.0 as well as testing solutions through lab demonstrators as well as case studies in industry.