The Complexity of Sustainable Innovation, Transitional Impacts of Industry 4.0 to 5.0 for Our Societies: Circular Society Exploring the Systemic Nexus of Socioeconomic Transitions

Abstract

In this chapter, we explore and analyze the foundations of our societal relationships, in relation to the concept of industrial transitions. When trying to understand how humans, collectively and prospectively, adapt or react to socioeconomic disruptive changes like the one Industry 5.0 is enacting, two concepts emerge. The first concept is the scope at which humans can handle complex issues. The second is the speed at which they are able to reframe their mental models, based on exposure to high-speed information exchange, that may drive thinking towards unexpected and completely different outcomes. We argue that ecosystems and their innovation capabilities are the only available mechanism we collectively have to build creativity and address the prioritizing of societal values. Innovation ecosystems can supply the testbed pathways on which better societal functions may emerge. In summary, this chapter discusses ways in which socioeconomic transitions could be dynamically applied to relevant functional systems, with a time horizon that allows enough time for evaluation of the effects (positive or negative), so that elements could be changed and/or introduced into or for the system. The circular society described in this chapter would have both intended and unintended consequences, as does any social complex adaptive system. As such, changes to any social contract defining particular interactions and relevant issues, would in turn, contribute to the fabric of preconditions and definitions of the transition between Industry 4.0 and Industry 5.0.