Industry 5.0 applications for sustainability: A systematic review and future research directions

Industry 5.0 has created innovative new prospects leading to the production of more environmentally friendly projects, services, and products. However, the available investigation of Industry 5.0 for sustainability is still in its early stages, with few systematic and scant findings. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to undertake a systematic review of industry 5.0 for sustainability in order to identify trends, categorize research themes, draw attention to research limitations, and suggest potential directions for future research. Following a systematic review approach, 48 articles on industry 5.0 for sustainability published between 2019 and 2022 were selected and reviewed. Results showed that the research trend on the contributions of Industry 5.0 to sustainability has been remarkably growing worldwide. The internet of things, artificial intelligence, and collaborative robots were the most commonly used Industry 5.0 technologies for sustainability purposes. Subsequently, this study discussed the current studies under four main research themes, namely, robot advancement, higher education sustainability, human-centric, and ecosystem advancement. It has been found that human centric is the most popular theme. The identification of themes and sub sub-themes in this study can help researchers identify gaps and inspire further exploration based on the existing knowledge. This study can support the decision-making process regarding the effective implementation of Industry 5.0 solutions to enhance sustainability practices in organizations. This study discusses the current state of Industry 5.0 technologies for sustainability and provides insights into future research directions. This can motivate researchers, policymakers, and industry professionals to explore and develop innovative Industry 5.0 solutions.