5 RI (Fifth Industrial Revolution) – transition or a new era?

By Armando Martinho, CTO of Linkcom

We live in times of exponential acceleration. The emerging concept of the Fifth Industrial Revolution (5IR) does not come out of nowhere — it is the next logical (or perhaps illogical, because it is deeply human) step in the ongoing evolution of the way we produce, innovate and organize ourselves as a society.

Industry 5.0 proposes a new balance: after the mass automation and extensive digitalization promoted by Industry 4.0, we are now entering a phase where the human touch, creativity and ethics are back at the center. It’s not just about integrating AI and robotics — it’s about leveraging them in service of people.

To understand where we are, it is essential to revisit the path that brought us here:

1. First Industrial Revolution (c. 1750 – 1850)

• Key technology: Steam engine

• Impact: Initiated in the United Kingdom, it marked the transition from manual to mechanized production. James Watt's invention (1776) revolutionized transport (trains, boats) and factories, creating the modern concept of mass production.

2. Second Industrial Revolution (c. 1870 – 1914)

• Key technology: Electricity and mass production

• Impact: The assembly line, popularized by Henry Ford, and advances in electrification transformed industrial productivity. The large-scale production model emerged, with profound economic and social gains.

3. Third Industrial Revolution (c. 1970 – 2000 )

• Key technology: Computers and automation

• Impact: Digitalization begins with the first computers, evolves with the Internet, and radically transforms the way companies operate. The first automated industrial control systems and new forms of global communication emerge.

4. Fourth Industrial Revolution (c. 2010 – 2020)

• Key technology: Internet of Things (IoT), AI, Big Data

• Impact: With the interconnection of machines and real-time data, Industry 4.0 has further automated processes, introducing autonomous robots, digital twins and predictive analytics. The pandemic has accelerated adoption in many sectors.

5. Fifth Industrial Revolution (c. 2021 – …?)

• Key technology: Human-machine collaboration, generative AI, collaborative robots (cobots)

• Impact: Instead of replacing humans, these technologies now enhance their cognitive and creative abilities. The focus shifts from efficiency to personalization, from mass production to individualized value, from autonomous machines to human-machine symbiosis.

  
  

The foundations are clear:

1. Humanization: Putting the human being back at the center of production, valuing empathy, creativity and adaptation — everything that no AI can faithfully replicate.

2. Sustainability: Adopt models that respect environmental limits, using clean energy, reducing waste and ensuring the circularity of resources.

3. Resilience: Preparing systems and organizations to deal with frequent disruptions, from pandemics to cyberattacks, ensuring operational continuity.

Human-machine collaboration enables more agile and personalized processes, but it requires a new type of infrastructure — hybrid, agile, integrated. Human creativity, combined with AI processing power, unlocks previously unthinkable innovations.

However, digitalization brings with it a critical threat: security.

Is Cybersecurity the Weakest Link in the 5IR? As everything is interconnected—industrial systems, cloud platforms, IoT sensors, and even biomedical devices—the attack surface grows exponentially. Estimates point to a global cost of $10.5 trillion/year in cybercrime by 2025. Digital protection is no longer a technical issue but a strategic priority.

And to do this, organizations must adopt proactive stances:

• Zero Trust Architectures

• Incident Response Automation

• Real-time threat intelligence

• Cybersecurity culture across teams

The merging of the physical, digital and biological spheres demands new, agile and highly coordinated approaches. A New Era, a new mindset. Industry 5.0 is not just about the future – it is about the present that we are already shaping. It is an opportunity to rethink the role of technology in human life. For many organizations, it will be a challenge of profound transformation. For others, it will be the competitive advantage that sets them apart in a hyper-complex world.

But above all, 5IR requires leadership — technical, ethical and strategic.

And this is still (and will continue to be) an exclusively human competence.