essay society 5 0

• Winter 2024
• Tahrir Forum
• Global Forum
• Book Reviews
• Regions and Countries
• Contributors
• eBook: A Global Perspective on the Trump Era

--> .cls-1{fill:#770c1d;}

.cls-1{fill:#770c1d;}.

Support Our Balanced Narrative

Society 5.0 and the Future Economies

We’re better-connected today than ever before—but has modern innovation created a new society altogether?

Staff members work at the technology control centre at Mandalay City Development Committee headquarters in Mandalay, Myanmar, March 28, 2019. Ann Wang/Reuters

• X (Twitter)

In 2015, the Japanese government began to explore how science, technology, and innovation (STI) can work together to help develop a new model of sustainable development. The plan they put together for human development around the world came to be called Society 5.0.

Society 5.0 envisions a human-centered community that balances economic advancement and the resolution of social problems. With every innovation, the world moves toward this society: one that is sustainable, inclusive, and super-smart. Society 5.0 will build upon the innovations of Societies 1.0 (hunter-gatherer), 2.0 (agricultural), 3.0 (industrialized), and 4.0 (information), yet draw upon modern technologies like big data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and robotics as its driving forces.

This future will live within the fabric of the cyber-physical system, in which cyberspace and the physical space are tightly integrated, and form a pervasive technological mode supporting Society 5.0. Even today, the gap between the cyber and physical realities is closing, as most people live online-to-offline and back again, or “O2O”.  

Solving existing social problems—which have become increasingly complex—can kick-start the full potential of economic development in Society 5.0. The reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, increased production and reduced loss of foodstuffs, mitigation of costs associated with an aging society, support of sustainable industrialization, redistribution of wealth, and correction of regional inequality all present opportunities for problem-solving, though thus far maintaining economic development and sound social policy at the same time has proven to be difficult.

But, the relationship works both ways; new value created through the innovation prized by Society 5.0 will eliminate regional, age, gender, and language gaps and enable the provision of products and services finely tailored to diverse individual needs. In this manner of reciprocity, it will be possible to achieve a society that can both promote economic development and find solutions to social problems.

For many countries, science, technology, and innovation (STI) policy has already become a mainstream political agenda. In Japan, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry are leading the Society 5.0 progression agenda. They craft their STI policy to support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and have made the SDGs the theme of World Expo 2025—“Designing Future Society for Our Lives”—which will be held in Osaka.

Japan has also established industry–government committees for next-generation mobility, smart public services, next-generation infrastructure, financial technology, and next-generation healthcare. 

The Drivers of Society 5.0

Worldwide, both governments and businesses believe that increasing urbanization and technological changes, aging populations, and globalization will continue to stimulate Society 5.0.

This dramatic shift to the digital age is happening ten times faster and three hundred times the scale of the societal shift of the Industrial Revolution—meaning that we will feel roughly three thousand times the impact. Just as waves amplify each other, these trends are gaining strength, magnitude, and influence as they feed upon one another.

The age of urbanization

Emerging markets are going through simultaneous industrial and urban revolutions that have shifted the center of world economy east and south at a speed never witnessed before. Today, 95 percent of the Fortune Global 500 companies—Airbus, IBM, Nestle, Shell, and The Coca Cola Company, to name a few—were headquartered in developed economies. But, by 2025, it will not be surprising to see nearly 50 percent of the world’s large companies (those with revenues of $1 billion or more) headquartered in emerging markets. According to Euromonitor International, as of 2018 twenty megalopolises—sets of roughly adjacent city agglomerations forming continuous urban regions known for their sheer economic size and their massive contribution to the global economy—have been identified across the world. Nine of these are in North America, seven in the Asia–Pacific, three in Europe, and one in Latin America. As these megalopolises generate roughly $30 trillion in gross domestic product each year—equivalent to 35 percent of the world economic output—and house 9 percent of the world’s population, they are fertile ground for large companies traditionally headquartered in the West. 

Greater Global Connections: Trade, People, Finance and Data

Clearly, the world is becoming much more connected through movements in capital, people, and information. Trade and finance have long been part of the globalization story—but, in recent decades, they have significantly expanded. Instead of a series of lines connecting major trading hubs in Europe and North America, the global trading system has exploded into an intricate, sprawling web. Asia is becoming the world’s largest trading region. “South–South” flows between emerging markets have doubled their share of global trade over the past decade; the volume of trade between China and Africa, for example, soared from $9 billion in 2000 to $215 billion in 2014. 

Accelerating technological change

Likewise, the scope, scale, and economic impact of technology have been rapidly expanding. Technology has always been a major force in overturning the status quo, from the printing press to the steam engine to the Internet. However, the pervasiveness of technology in our lives now is unparalleled, and the speed by which new technologies are developed has increased. For instance, it took almost four decades for the radio to attract 50 million listeners—but, Facebook managed to attract 50 million users in two years, and Instagram did it in one and a half years. As fast as innovation has multiplied and spread in recent years, it is poised to change and grow exponentially, at a speed beyond the power of human intuition to anticipate.

Aging Population

Yet, there is one other trend that is mushrooming across the globe: aging. The human population is getting older. Fertility is falling, and the world’s population is graying dramatically. While aging has been evident in developed economies for some time—Russia and Japan have seen their populations decline over the past few years—the demographic deficit is now spreading to China, and will soon reach Latin America.

For the first time in human history, aging could mean that the planet’s population will plateau in most of the world. Thirty years ago, only a small share of the global population lived in the few countries with fertility rates substantially below that needed to replace each generation: 2.1 children per woman. But, by 2013, the number had expanded to about 60 percent. This is a sea change. The European Commission expects that, by 2060, Germany’s population will have shrunk by one-fifth, and the number of people of working age will fall to 36 million as opposed to 54 million in 2010.

The Future Economies

These four disruptive forces have not only influenced the development of Society 5.0, but are paving the way for the emergence of new types of economies within it. In the coming years, emerging “digital”, “experience”, “sharing”, “gig”, “circular”, and “purpose” economies will all dominate how businesses will create value. 

In so doing, those new economies will alter our understanding of the political economy. The future economies are expected to have a profound effect on the generation and distribution of wealth and power, the intersection of which are at the core of the concept of political economy. As the future economies evolve, societies, enterprises, and governments will find themselves in new roles when it comes to the use or control of wealth and power, each as an instrument to influence the other.

For over four decades, conventional wisdom among policymakers, academics, and journalists has lauded the neoliberal policies that have governed the global economy. We have been assured that the costs of global deregulation of capital, labor, and commodity markets are “transitional”, and more than compensated for by overall economic growth, rising standards of living, and a narrowing of the income gap between rich and poor. Yet, there is no convincing proof that this “Washington Consensus” has delivered on its promises. Most of the claims in its favor are based on anecdotal evidence, and typically focus on only the benefits while ignoring the costs. There is, however, a strong prima facie case that the net impact of neoliberalism has been negative.

The new realities that are being shaped by Society 5.0 put this phenomenon of blind acceptance up for questioning. Consumers expect that the future economies will address their mounting concerns about the stagnant wages, rising debt, and lack of creditor-friendly low inflation levels that have existed under the neoliberal status quo. This is surely shaping a new agenda for the future political economy, and is even driving voters to reject mainstream political parties.

Digital Economy

The digital economy lies at the center of this change; it acts as the enabler and influencer of the rest of the economies in one or more ways. It is changing the world view on value creation; it will not only transform the way we convert our resources into economic value-added outcomes, but it will redefine our views on how to utilize available resources to address existing economic and social challenges. 

The digital economy develops in three layers. The foundational layer includes core issues such as infrastructure, regulations and policies, digital skills, finance, and governance. The second layer is the true ecosystem of innovation and includes the different technologies that fuel the digital economy: big data analytics, AI, 3-D printing, social networks, new digital media, and cloud computing are just a few. They enable economic sectors, which exist in the third layer, to go “smart” to form the digital economy. The final product includes many sectors, such as e-health, e-government, precision agriculture, smart manufacturing, smart cities, and smart mobility. Because of its multi-layer makeup, the digital economy is able to create benefits for multiple levels of society. For example, digitization allows for the automation of business operations, resulting in operational efficiencies (like the reduction of transaction costs) which ultimately heighten productivity. Furthermore, it offers new business opportunities, thus affecting employment and entrepreneurship. It also enhances the provision of public services, such as health and education, and improves interactions between citizens and their governments by facilitating communication and social inclusion. With all of these benefits, the development of a digital economy will ultimately lead to a society that has more inclusion, affordability, and accessibility to support the achievement of social and economic development goals.

Experience Economy

The emergence of another economy—the experience economy—has fundamentally changed how companies go to market, influence their buyers, and engage people throughout the customer journey. Brands have realized that experience is king: consumers’ loyalty and dollars go not to products, but to the experience that they have when shopping with a company.

Brands consider many touchpoints in crafting a customer’s experience; its product, service, employees, and market messaging across multiple channels are continually cultivated over the duration of the customer-brand relationship. However, in order to improve and deliver a memorable customer experience—and see optimal business outcomes—companies need to move from touchpoints to journeys . 

I propose a three-step approach to making this transition. First, companies must observe. Seeing the world as their customers do helps leading companies better organize and mobilize their employees around customer needs. Then, the customer experience must be shaped around these observations. Designing the customer experience requires digitizing processes, reorienting company cultures, and nimbly refining new approaches in the field. 

The last step in this process—the performance—can take two to four years. Rewiring a company is a journey in itself, and requires high engagement from company leaders and frontline workers alike.

Some companies have created superior customer experiences and left lasting impressions in the minds of consumers by adopting this approach. Apple, Workday, and Amazon have excelled in the technology sector; Southwest and Virgin Atlantic in air travel; and Starbucks, Nordstrom, and Zappos.com in retail. Because of the interest in customer experience shown by brands like these, spending on the experience economy is projected to skyrocket to $8 trillion by 2030.

Sharing Economy

However, around the world, a new wave of peer-to-peer, access-driven companies are shaking up the established businesses. The sharing economy has allowed individuals and groups to make money from under-used assets. Trust, convenience, and sense of community have given consumers a greater appetite for sharing-based rather than corporate opportunities, whether they’re looking to borrow goods, rent homes, or use someone’s micro skills in exchange for money. 

Numbers of people are switching from traditional hotels to Airbnb and Couchsurfing. Uber, Lyft, Side.car, and Getaround have become more popular than taxis, and it is common for individuals to buy and sell retail and consumer goods from Poshmark, Tradesy, and NeighborGoods. And, of course, who among us hasn’t used Wix, Spotify, Earbits, or Soundcloud for media and entertainment?

The impact created by this emergent ecosystem is upending mature business models across the globe. To put the scale of disruption caused by the sharing economy into perspective, Airbnb averages 425,000 guests per night: 22 percent more than Hilton worldwide. Uber, an archetypal disruptive business, has played havoc with the taxi industry in over six hundred cities in sixty-five countries.

The sharing economy is too big of an opportunity to miss, but too big of a risk (for traditional businesses) not to mitigate. Therefore, it is increasingly important for traditional businesses to recognize both the opportunities and disruption risks they are confronted with in order to remain effective in the sharing economy. This can be achieved in seven steps: create a marketplace that involves high fixed costs and low marginal costs with underutilization; develop mitigation strategies by acquiring new entrants or partnering with them; engage in sharing won asset bases; effectively tap talent; share in shaping regulatory and policy frameworks; expand the brand; and finally, never settle—and continue evolving. 

Gig Economy

Although they seem similar, separate from the sharing economy is the gig economy—rather, the “skills sharing economy”. Also called the “freelance economy”, the gig economy refers to the use of digital platforms by independent freelancers to connect with individuals or businesses for short-term services. 

Since the majority of the gig economy’s gross volume is generated from platforms that are relatively new to the market, the outlook for continued industry expansion is positive. Gig platforms are projected to continue extending their operations regionally and offer a greater diversity of services to customers, thus enabling the industry to expand and mature. 

Freelancers are increasingly offering their services to gig platforms, partly because evolving social attitudes about peer-to-peer sharing of personal items now accept, and even encourage, sharing underutilized assets for profit. Moreover, digitization has become more accessible through rapid smartphone adoption and increasing Internet access in underserved regions. A cultural shift toward embracing a “flexible” work–life balance has also changed the working population’s expectations of a typical nine-to-five workday, and rising costs of living and a shrinking middle class compel the employed lower-to-middle class to seek additional part-time income through gig work.

Circular Economy

The circular economy is a $4.5 trillion business opportunity with the potential to transform the production and consumption processes that have operated since the Industrial Revolution. Often defined as a “new way of looking at relationships between markets, customers, and natural resources”, the concept of the circular economy is widely misunderstood by businesses. Capitalizing on its opportunity will remain a challenge until or unless more business leaders adopt a circular mindset, as executives from Danone, Solvay, International Flavours & Fragrances Inc., and Unilever have.

The circular economy moves away from the orthodox “take-make-dispose” economic model towards one that is regenerative by design. The origins of the linear economy, the excessive consumerism-driven economic model that we see today, date back to the period after the Second World War when the global economy was in disrepair and growth through constant buying and disposing of products was promoted. Today, we need an economic model that reflects the new generation’s social values and benefits the planet: one that reduces waste, focuses on repairing things instead of throwing them away, and designs and builds products that are more reliable, live longer, and use less packaging. 

The benefits of such a model abound. The circular economy has already created five hundred thousand additional jobs in France, and could offer a 37 percent reduction in energy consumption in the European Union. It also reduces greenhouse gas emissions—in India, implementing circular solutions presents the opportunity to reduce emissions by about 40 percent—and is particularly important in light of resource scarcity. In fact, applying circular economy principles to water management can greatly reduce conflict over water resources. Lastly, the circular economy drives innovation; the potential revenue that can be generated by circular business models for automotive companies, for example, could grow to $400–600 billion in 2030.

Purpose Economy

The conscious mindset that underlies the circular economy takes a second form in the purpose-driven economy, which finds its roots in social entrepreneurship. Social entrepreneurs are popping up everywhere, demonstrating through innovative approaches that profit-making and social benefit can go hand-in-hand. The Egyptian brand Okhtein, for example, is one of the country’s hottest exports. They have taken a philanthropic approach to incorporating handmade embroidery and straw into their leatherwork by collaborating with several local nongovernmental organizations that provide assistance to skilled female workers from economically unstable backgrounds in the country.

Vava Coffee is another example. Launched in Kenya, Vava Coffee buys and exports some of the finest Kenyan coffee beans from smallholder farmers who have traditionally lacked access to fair markets, ensuring that they receive equitable prices. 

Tapping into a rising consciousness among customers, employees, and other stakeholders, many organizations and businesses are stepping up to enable positive innovation to tackle societal and economic challenges while promoting business growth. 

The success of businesses like Vava and Okhtein shows that for consumers, purpose has become personal, and the new generation—empowered by technology, high connectivity, and social media—has more power than ever to help solve the world’s economic and societal challenges.

The Optimal Path to Society 5.0

Movement toward Society 5.0 and the future economies is unstoppable; but, the world as a whole still needs to work to ensure that we get the most that we can out of this evolution. In order for Society 5.0 to operate at its full potential, we must confront serious deficiencies in the status quo, which take the form of five societal “walls”.

First to be confronted must be the wall of the ministries and agencies. This necessitates, as the Japan Business Federation states, “formulation of national strategies and integration of government promotion system”. This includes expanding the system of “Internet of Things” to the “Internet of Every Thing”, engineering a bureaucratic “think-tank function”.

Whereby laws need to be developed to implement new economic models, innovative regulatory reforms and a push of administrative digitization are also necessary to bring down the wall of the legal system. For example, Japan is promoting the expansion of World Trade Organization rules beyond goods and services to encompass trade in data

To combat barriers in technology, we need to form a “knowledge foundation”. Actionable data plays a foundational role here, as do all technologies and areas that protect and leverage it, from  cybersecurity  to robotics to nano, bio, and systems technology. This requires a serious commitment to research and development on various levels.

Educational reform, information technology literacy, and a greater number of individuals with specializations in advanced digital skills are crucial to removing the wall of human resources. This should also include the promotion of women’s participation to discover potential talents.

Lastly, we need to break down the wall of social acceptance: educate the public, address privacy concerns, and continuously examine ethical, legal, and social implications for all stakeholders. This examination must cover everything from the relationship between humans and machines (AI and robots) to philosophical issues, such as the definition of individual happiness and humanity.

Hesham Dinana is a professor of integrated marketing communications (IMC) at the American University in Cairo. His interest in future technologies and its social implication guided his research on the use of Information and Communications Technology and Digital Economy. He also authored research on Insights-Driven Sales Management.

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Related Articles

COVID-19: Isle of Man Response and Issues for the Future for Small States

Civil Society for the Displaced

Toward an Egyptian Open Society

Losing Syria’s Economic Future

• Privacy Overview
• Strictly Necessary Cookies

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.

Modern society has reached its limits. Society 5.0 will liberate us

Facing the future: A boy celebrates the New Year in Tokyo Image:  REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo{-webkit-transition:all 0.15s ease-out;transition:all 0.15s ease-out;cursor:pointer;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;outline:none;color:inherit;}.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo:hover,.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo[data-hover]{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;}.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo:focus,.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo[data-focus]{box-shadow:0 0 0 3px rgba(168,203,251,0.5);} Hiroaki Nakanishi

.chakra .wef-9dduvl{margin-top:16px;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.388;font-size:1.25rem;}@media screen and (min-width:56.5rem){.chakra .wef-9dduvl{font-size:1.125rem;}} Explore and monitor how .chakra .wef-15eoq1r{margin-top:16px;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.388;font-size:1.25rem;color:#F7DB5E;}@media screen and (min-width:56.5rem){.chakra .wef-15eoq1r{font-size:1.125rem;}} Values is affecting economies, industries and global issues

.chakra .wef-1nk5u5d{margin-top:16px;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.388;color:#2846F8;font-size:1.25rem;}@media screen and (min-width:56.5rem){.chakra .wef-1nk5u5d{font-size:1.125rem;}} Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale

Stay up to date:.

The world is now facing a great tide of change. The trend of digital transformation cannot be stopped and is drastically changing many aspects of society, including public administration, industrial structure, employment and people’s private lives.

There are countless directions in which society will be advanced by technological development. While technology could bring about improvements such as higher standards of living and greater convenience, it could have negative effects too, such as impact on employment, growing disparity and unequal distribution of wealth and information. It is up to us in which direction we choose to go. We must consider what kind of society we wish to create, rather than trying to foresee the kind of society it will be.

Therefore, Japan will take the initiative in guiding the world towards a brighter future by showing an ideal concept of the next society, which we call Society 5.0. In its latest report , Keidanren (Japan Business Federation) has redefined Society 5.0 as the "Imagination Society".

People will be expected to exercise rich imaginations to identify a variety of needs and challenges scattered across society and the scenarios to solve them, as well as creativity to realize such solutions by using digital technologies and data. Society 5.0 will be an Imagination Society, where digital transformation combines with the creativity of diverse people to bring about "problem solving" and "value creation" that lead us to sustainable development. It is a concept that can contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations.

In Society 5.0, people will be liberated from various constraints that previous incarnations up until Society 4.0 could not overcome, and will obtain the freedom to pursue diverse lifestyles and values.

People will be liberated from focus on efficiency. Instead, the emphasis will be placed on satisfying individual needs, solving problems and creating value.

People will be able to live, learn and work, free from suppressive influences on individuality, such as discrimination by gender, race, nationality, etc. and alienation because of their values and ways of thinking.

People will be liberated from the disparity caused by the concentration of wealth and information, and anyone will be able to get opportunities to play a part any time, anywhere.

People will be liberated from anxiety about terrorism, disasters and cyberattacks, and live with security with strengthened safety nets for unemployment and poverty.

People will be liberated from resources and environmental constraints, and able to live sustainable lives in any region.

In short, we will make Society 5.0 a society in which anyone can create value any time, anywhere, with security and in harmony with nature.

In the report, we have described specific instances of Society 5.0 in several key areas.

Taking healthcare as an example, we will provide personalized and preventive care by collecting and analyzing individual health and medical data over a lifetime so that people can live longer with good health. If Japan is successful in creating such a healthcare system, it can be applied to other countries facing an ageing society in the near future, thus contributing to the attainment of the 3rd SDG.

Keidanren is urging the government to establish the infrastructure to link health and medical data and make it available for various actors to provide better healthcare services. At the same time, it continues dialogue with the academic and medical sectors to break down sectionalism and build partnerships for a comprehensive healthcare system.

Keidanren is working together with the government and other stakeholders on corporate and labor policy reform, human resource development, establishment of data policy, enhancement of research and development, governmental reform, etc. for the realization of Society 5.0. It wishes to share the goal with its partners around the world and co-create the future.

Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

The Agenda .chakra .wef-n7bacu{margin-top:16px;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.388;font-weight:400;} Weekly

A weekly update of the most important issues driving the global agenda

.chakra .wef-1dtnjt5{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;-webkit-flex-wrap:wrap;-ms-flex-wrap:wrap;flex-wrap:wrap;} More on Health and Healthcare Systems .chakra .wef-17xejub{-webkit-flex:1;-ms-flex:1;flex:1;justify-self:stretch;-webkit-align-self:stretch;-ms-flex-item-align:stretch;align-self:stretch;} .chakra .wef-nr1rr4{display:-webkit-inline-box;display:-webkit-inline-flex;display:-ms-inline-flexbox;display:inline-flex;white-space:normal;vertical-align:middle;text-transform:uppercase;font-size:0.75rem;border-radius:0.25rem;font-weight:700;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;line-height:1.2;-webkit-letter-spacing:1.25px;-moz-letter-spacing:1.25px;-ms-letter-spacing:1.25px;letter-spacing:1.25px;background:none;padding:0px;color:#B3B3B3;-webkit-box-decoration-break:clone;box-decoration-break:clone;-webkit-box-decoration-break:clone;}@media screen and (min-width:37.5rem){.chakra .wef-nr1rr4{font-size:0.875rem;}}@media screen and (min-width:56.5rem){.chakra .wef-nr1rr4{font-size:1rem;}} See all

Why health ministers must be at the forefront of global healthcare processes

Shyam Bishen

May 28, 2024

How AI, robotics and automation will reshape the diagnostic lab of the future

Ranga Sampath

How health data collaboration can help unlock inclusive healthcare

Laura Heinrich and Antonio Spina

May 27, 2024

Africa’s cancer burden is taking its toll on women and girls: A new coalition hopes to accelerate progress

Amira Ghouaibi and Emily Fitzgerald

Gender and health equity will only come with universal access to eye health – here's why

Dr. Princess Ifeoma Ike

May 24, 2024

Society 5.0: The New Social Paradigm Report

Introduction, the importance of the “society 5.0” concept.

Society 5.0 is a new social paradigm, which implies the total spread of IoT and the use of Big Data. Technologies of handling substantial data arrays and AI for parallel evolution of the economy and solving various social problems. The Society 5.0 strategy was presented in March 2017 at CeBIT in Hanover by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (Author, 2022). Thus, it is essential to explain why Japan needs Society 5.0 to achieve its sustainable development goals.

Japan is developing dimensions of digitalization, especially in specific institutions and sections of society, into a comprehensive national transition strategy, policymaking, and eventual vision. Meanwhile, the evolution is occurring internationally and contributes to the achievement of SDGs. Industry 5.0 was negotiated in 2020 in a range of panels by members from research and technology institutions (Author, 2022). There was agreement on the necessity of incorporating social and environmental European concerns into technological investment and changing the focus from separate technologies to a systemic vision. Accordingly, the joint efforts of Japan and other states contribute to the immediate benefits of a phase of progress.

The new role of the industry employee in Industry 5.0 is significantly changing. The workforce is considered not as a “price” but as an “investment” position for the company, enabling the organization and the employee to advance (Author, 2022). This means that the employer is interested in investing in its staff’s skills, abilities, and well-being to achieve their objectives. This approach is quite different from balancing labor costs with financial returns: human capital is more respected and valued. An essential premise of Industry 5.0 is that technology serves people rather than the opposite (Author, 2022). In an industrial context, this implies that the technology used in production is adapted to the needs and diversity of industrial workers instead of constantly adjusting to ever-evolving technology. The worker should have more options, and the work environment should become more inclusive (Author, 2022). To achieve this, workers have to actively participate in developing and adopting new industrial technologies, including robotics and AI.

Significantly, Industry 5.0 contributes to the economic efficiency of enterprises in a way that addresses the needs and desires of workers and is environmentally sustainable. This makes it appealing to businessmen, potential investments, and clients, who can profit from more marketable products in the most meaningful sense (Author, 2022). Hence, the new concept is highly advantageous to stakeholders, which enhances the incentives for its promotion and, consequently, the implementation of sustainable development aims.

Therefore, Industry 5.0 is a shift in emphasis from technological progress to an entirely human-centered approach. The industry also needs to consider social constraints, endeavoring not to leave anyone behind. This has many implications concerning a safe and supportive work environment, respect for human rights, and skill requirements for workers. At the same time, stakeholders benefit if Industry 5.0 achieves its sustainability goals. This is because they will then be able to reduce costs and obtain competitive products presented globally.

Author. (2022). Goal 12 responsible consumption and production goal 13 climate action [PowerPoint slides].

• Working With Artificial Intelligence (AI)
• Bicultural Paradigm in a Contemporary Society
• Management Research Paradigm
• The Margolis Wheel Use in Community Development
• Moral Identities, Social Anxiety, and Academic Dishonesty
• Sociology of Health and Medicine Concepts in News Stories
• Transgender Women Take Part in Sports Competitions
• Case Study: A Multi-Problem Appalachian Family
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2023, April 6). Society 5.0: The New Social Paradigm. https://ivypanda.com/essays/society-50-the-new-social-paradigm/

"Society 5.0: The New Social Paradigm." IvyPanda , 6 Apr. 2023, ivypanda.com/essays/society-50-the-new-social-paradigm/.

IvyPanda . (2023) 'Society 5.0: The New Social Paradigm'. 6 April.

IvyPanda . 2023. "Society 5.0: The New Social Paradigm." April 6, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/society-50-the-new-social-paradigm/.

1. IvyPanda . "Society 5.0: The New Social Paradigm." April 6, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/society-50-the-new-social-paradigm/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Society 5.0: The New Social Paradigm." April 6, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/society-50-the-new-social-paradigm/.

• Blockchain for business
• 4IR – AI, Blockchain, Fintech, IoT
• AI for Business
• Cybersecurity and AI for Business

Planet of Clusters

Blockchain and Sustainable Business Practices

How Blockchain Technology is Revolutionizing Supply Chain Management

5 Ways Blockchain Technology is Transforming Data Analytics

Healthcare In The Era Of Artificial Intelligence And Blockchain: Pradeep Goel,…

Innovating the Classroom: How EdTech is Revolutionizing Education

Future-Ready: Navigating Promising Business Trends of 2024 and Beyond

Can AI Help Wholesale Businesses Manage Their Inventory?

The Future of AI-Powered Healthcare Solutions

The Role of AI in Enhancing Remote Work Productivity

Game-Changers: How Business and Tech Innovations are Revolutionizing the World of…

Quantum Computing: Revolutionizing Cybersecurity

5 Reasons Online Learning Could Be Ideal for You

Navigating Your English Language Learning Journey: A Comprehensive Guide with English…

MBA Online: Balance Business & Impact for a Better Future

The Impact of Specialized Education on Individuals with Autism

Society 5.0: what is it & how to achieve a human-centered society.

Society 5.0 is a human-centered society that balances economic and technological advancement to solve society’s problems with super-smart AI data systems. It represents a new vision for a smarter society where humans, nature and technology create a sustainable balance enhanced by data.

The concept of Society 5.0 was first proposed in the 5th Science and Technology Basic Plan by the Japanese government as a future society that Japan should aspire to. It follows the hunting society (Society 1.0), agricultural society (Society 2.0), industrial society (Society 3.0), and information society (Society 4.0).

As it was stated by Professor Harayama Yuko, Professor Emeritus at Tōhoku University and current member of the Board of Directors of the Elsevier Foundation, ORCID and a member of the Scientific Steering Committee for the French National Research Agency (ANR Society): “Society 5.0 is an initiative merging the physical space (real world) and cyberspace by leveraging ICT to its fullest, where we are proposing an ideal form of our future society: a ‘super smart society’ (…) We consider this as a concept to be developed alongside citizens.”

With Society 5.0, digitization is a means, but we humans must remain central actors. Traditionally, innovation driven by technology has been responsible for social development, but in the future, we will reverse our way of thinking, focusing on how to build a society that makes us happy and provides a sense of worth. That is why we focus on the word “society” as the foundation for human life.

As Professor Harayama Yuko said: “Society 5.0 aims to resolve various modern social challenges by incorporating game-changing innovations such as the Internet of things (IoT), robotics, AI and big data into all industries and social activities. Rather than a future controlled and monitored by AI and robots, technology is harnessed to achieve a human-centred society in which each and every person can lead an active and enjoyable life.  Within the context of ever-growing digitalization and connectivity and expanding use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies, several actions have been initiated under this flagship concept by the Japanese government as well as by the private sector.”

Watch the video below to know more about Society 5.0, created by Dinis Guarda.

What makes Society 5.0 different? Having tech, nature and society systems operating in balance scope we can keep a building efficient, supplying energy to a smart city, ensuring that all services provided by that city are efficient and available. That is achieved thanks to a high degree of convergence between cyberspace (virtual space) and physical space (real space). In Society 5.0, a huge amount of information from sensors in physical space is accumulated in cyberspace. In cyberspace, this big data is analyzed by artificial intelligence (AI), and the analysis results are fed back to humans in physical space in various forms.

How Society 5.0 works? In the past information society, the common practice was to collect information via the network and have it analyzed by humans. In Society 5.0, however, people, things, and systems are all connected in cyberspace and optimal results obtained by AI exceeding the capabilities of humans are fed back to physical space. This process brings new value to industry and society in ways not previously possible.

Society Evolution : Achieving Society 5.0

We have gone through 5 society evolutions in human history:

SOCIETY 1.0 Cognitive + agriculture revolution.

Population 0-5-770 million Circa 115,000, early humans until 30,000 Homo Sapiens and after 10,000 years ago. Discover of fire, limited production, subsistence. Trade, social contract, Community, emergence state first models, First war empires. Money, jewelry, clothes. Religion, Nomadic tribes. Adapt nature. Small life span. 1215 Inception of Magna Carta as the first civic law and society constitution

SOCIETY 2.0 Circa 1760 – 1950’s first industrial revolution.

It was characterized by steam, electricity urbanisation, chemical agriculture, printing press, property ownership, centralised production, advertising, capitalism, socialism, healthcare, radio wave radiation, ego-system. Energy, free-market, accelerated nature change. Population: 2.5 billion. Regarding lifestyle principles, the life span augments from 30 to 60 years old.

We see a rise in human genome, TV, media broadcast, digitisation, internet, social media. It was the time of the Cold War, globalisation, space race, organic agriculture, big data, enterprise scale, complex hierarchy, stakeholder, uniform code, swarm awareness, mechanic to electronic, social market, NGOs, pollution, climate change issues and awareness. The world population soared to 6.9 billion and life extends to 80 years old.

SOCIETY 4.0 Circa 1950-1990-2020. The information society. This is the most recent society structure, dominated by tech exponential growth, permanent revolution, collective wisdom of Crowds – Internet App economy . This is a society highly influenced by tech innovation with frontier emergent technologies like Blockchain, IoT, AI, ML, robotics, quantum computing, etc. It is the time of great shifts like regenerative law, decentralisation, social impact, P2P digital systems, creative models, fake news, dystopian social unrest. UN SGD parallel w/ social psychometric. The world population rose to 8 billion people and there is an increase percentage number of people with 100+ years old.

SOCIETY 5.0 After 2020. The human-centered society.

A way by which to guide and mobilize action in science, technology and innovation (STI) to achieve a prosperous, sustainable, and inclusive future. It is dominated by Super Intelligence / Human Center Nature Conscience / AI Singularity / UN SDG smart society / AGI, Open Distributed APIs. It is characterized by a SUPERINTELLIGENT SOCIETY, a Redefinition of human machine identity – new evolution genetic neuroscience. Climate change – circular economy and new green economy. The world population is expected to reach 9.75 billion people.

The concept of society 5.0 is a vision of a human nature and tech sustainable society where humans, nature and technology find a circular economy of balance in super intelligent digital transformation – smart society.

“A major turning point in the history of humankind.”

The initial concept of society 5.0 was announced to the world by former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in a famous speech entitled “Hannover Declaration” delivered at the CeBIT 2017 in Hannover, Germany. Society 5.0 concept was developed in Japan’s 5th Science and Technology Basic Plan by the Council for Science, Technology and Innovation.

Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said back then:

“A major turning point in the history of humankind has arrived.

In prehistoric days, we ventured into the forest to hunt. If that is the first chapter of human history, then the second is when we succeeded in securing a stable number of food calories in the form of rice and wheat.

The curtain rose on chapter three as waves of industrialization arrived in what we call modern times; chapter four saw telecommunications and computers fuse, opening a new door.

We are now witnessing the opening of the fifth chapter, when we are able to find solutions to problems we had been unable to solve. This age in which all things are connected and all technologies fuse is the advent of “Society 5.0”.”

Likewise, the exponential disruptive technologies of our time can create dystopia or utopia. They will be part of the biggest evolutionary acceleration that will shift humanity more in the next 50 years than in all the different stages of human history and evolution. Even with our basic forms of narrow AI we are already seeing the biggest disruption of human society with manipulation of entire societies with social media, fake news and dark data. However, the biggest challenges are yet to arrive. They will come in the form of health genetic modification – bioengineering and social AI engineerings.

Here, a variety of measures have become necessary such as the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, increased production and reduced loss of foodstuffs, mitigation of costs associated with the aging society, support of sustainable industrialization, redistribution of wealth, and correction of regional inequality, but achieving both economic development and solutions to social problems at the same time has proven to be difficult in the present social system.

A Human Centered Society

In Society 5.0, new value created through innovation will eliminate regional, age, gender, and language gaps and enable the provision of products and services finely tailored to diverse individual needs and latent needs. In this way, it will be possible to achieve a society that can both promote economic development and find solutions to social problems.

Society 5.0 is about augmenting humanity with super intelligence & constant conversation between the best of academic research, science a new dawn of evolution, powered by tech innovation, & all agents in society.

Dinis Guarda is an author, academic, influencer, serial entrepreneur, and leader in 4IR, AI, Fintech, digital transformation, and Blockchain. Dinis has created various companies such as Ztudium tech platform; founder of global digital platform directory openbusinesscouncil.org ; digital transformation platform to empower, guide and index cities citiesabc.com and fashion technology platform fashionabc.org . He is also the publisher of intelligenthq.com , hedgethink.com and tradersdna.com . He has been working with the likes of UN / UNITAR, UNESCO, European Space Agency, Davos WEF, Philips, Saxo Bank, Mastercard, Barclays, and governments all over the world.

With over two decades of experience in international business, C-level positions, and digital transformation, Dinis has worked with new tech, cryptocurrencies, driven ICOs, regulation, compliance, and legal international processes, and has created a bank, and been involved in the inception of some of the top 100 digital currencies.

He creates and helps build ventures focused on global growth, 360 digital strategies, sustainable innovation, Blockchain, Fintech, AI and new emerging business models such as ICOs / tokenomics.

Dinis is the founder/CEO of ztudium that manages blocksdna / lifesdna. These products and platforms offer multiple AI P2P, fintech, blockchain, search engine and PaaS solutions in consumer wellness healthcare and life style with a global team of experts and universities.

He is the founder of coinsdna a new swiss regulated, Swiss based, institutional grade token and cryptocurrencies blockchain exchange. He is founder of DragonBloc a blockchain, AI, Fintech fund and co-founder of Freedomee project.

Dinis is the author of various books. He has published different books such “4IR AI Blockchain Fintech IoT Reinventing a Nation”, “How Businesses and Governments can Prosper with Fintech, Blockchain and AI?”, also the bigger case study and book (400 pages) “Blockchain, AI and Crypto Economics – The Next Tsunami?” last the “Tokenomics and ICOs – How to be good at the new digital world of finance / Crypto” was launched in 2018.

Some of the companies Dinis created or has been involved have reached over 1 USD billions in valuation. Dinis has advised and was responsible for some top financial organisations, 100 cryptocurrencies worldwide and Fortune 500 companies.

Dinis is involved as a strategist, board member and advisor with the payments, lifestyle, blockchain reward community app Glance technologies, for whom he built the blockchain messaging / payment / loyalty software Blockimpact, the seminal Hyperloop Transportations project, Kora, and blockchain cybersecurity Privus.

He is listed in various global fintech, blockchain, AI, social media industry top lists as an influencer in position top 10/20 within 100 rankings: such as Top People In Blockchain | Cointelegraph https://top.cointelegraph.com/ and https://cryptoweekly.co/100/ .

Between 2014 and 2015 he was involved in creating a fabbanking.com a digital bank between Asia and Africa as Chief Commercial Officer and Marketing Officer responsible for all legal, tech and business development. Between 2009 and 2010 he was the founder of one of the world first fintech, social trading platforms tradingfloor.com for Saxo Bank.

He is a shareholder of the fintech social money transfer app Moneymailme and math edutech gamification children’s app Gozoa.

He has been a lecturer at Copenhagen Business School, Groupe INSEEC/Monaco University and other leading world universities.

RELATED ARTICLES MORE FROM AUTHOR

Asserting Your Legal Protections With Creditors

How to Leverage Radio Advertising for Brand Growth

Most popular.

Debunking Seven Entrepreneurship Myths

4 Diverse Career Options for Business Graduates In 2023

Getting your Online Content Recognized With Keywords, High-Quality Content and Google...

What Is Forex Trading? Learn the Basics

OUR NETWORK

• Advertising With Us

Society 5.0

What is society 5.0.

The vision of the future society that Japan should strive towards that follows the eras of the hunting society (Society 1.0), agricultural society (Society 2.0), industrial society (Society 3.0), and information society (Society 4.0). In the 5th Science and Technology Basic Plan（Cabinet decision of January 22, 2016）, Society 5.0 was first proposed as "a human-centered society in which economic development and the resolution of social issues are compatible with each other through a highly integrated system of cyberspace and physical space." In order to embody and bring into reality the concept of Society 5.0 presented in the 5th Science and Technology Basic Plan, the 6th Science, Technology, and Innovation Basic Plan (Cabinet decision of March 26, 2021), depicts Society 5.0 as "a society that is sustainable and resilient against threats and unpredictable and uncertain situations, that ensures the safety and security of the people, and that individual to realize diverse well-being."

What is necessary to Realizing Society 5.0

It is necessary for the Sixth Basic Plan to embody Society 5.0 which is proposed in the Fifth Basic Plan, etc. as "a human-centered society in which economic development and the resolution of social issues are compatible with each other through a highly integrated system of cyberspace and physical space" , in light of domestic and international changes.

Transformation into a sustainable and resilient society through the fusion of cyberspace and physical space

The key to achieving Society 5.0 is the fusion of cyberspace and physical space and the values of a human-centered society. In Society 5.0, every element of society will be built as a digital twin23 in cyberspace, restructured in terms of systems, business design, urban and regional development, etc., and then reflected in physical space to transform society. By incorporating the human-centered values into these new processes, we will encourage individual Japanese citizens and citizens of the world to play a central role in decision-making, and society will change flexibly and expeditiously into a better shape.

Creation of knowledge as a source of value creation by designing a new society

In transitioning to Society 5.0, in order to respond to the ELSI* that arises when new technologies are utilized in society, it is necessary to have a panoramic perspective and to build a system that enables the utilization of "Convergence Knowledge (So-Go-Chi)" that includes not only the natural sciences but also the humanities and social sciences. *ELSI: Ethical, Legal and Social Implications/Issues.

Developing human resources to support a new society

In the era of Society 5.0, it will be important to develop the abilities and qualities that can be acquired through exploratory activities to discover problems and find solutions by oneself. It will be necessary to produce human resources who can create new value in the world and to realize an education and human resource development system that will realize this.

Science, Technology and Innovation Policies for the Realization of Society 5.0

Cross-ministerial strategic innovation promotion program (sip), programs for bridging the gap between r&d and the ideal society (society 5.0) and generating economic and social value (hereinafter referred to as "bridge").

We are fostering innovation in the strategies of each ministry's research and development by bridging results, such as groundbreaking technologies produced through initiatives like SIP, toward the resolution of social issues, the creation of new businesses, and the realization of Society 5.0.

The Moonshot Research and Development Program

In pursuit of creating disruptive innovations originating from Japan, the government is setting ambitious goals and visions targeted at social issues that, while challenging, are expected to yield significant impact upon realization. It is promoting daring research and development grounded in bolder ideas. Multiple objectives have been set against the backdrop of Society 5.0. For more information, please visit the page for the Moonshot Research and Development Program

Smart Cities

Convergence knowledge (so-go-chi).

Addressing societal challenges through science, technology, and innovation, as well as realizing Society 5.0 and other social reforms, requires the use of Convergence Knowledge (So-Go-Chi) that includes not only the natural sciences but also the humanities and social sciences, which play a critical role. To promote the use of convergence knowledge, we are advancing efforts such as the dissemination of information about convergence knowledge and the collection of case studies where it has been applied.

Education and the Development of Human Resources

Recognizing that "diversity," "fairness and individual dignity," and "varied well-being" are at the core of Society 5.0, we are advancing initiatives to promote education and the development of human resources policies throughout society.

Related Link

Society 5.0 as a Contribution to the Sustainable Development Report

• Conference paper
• First Online: 17 November 2020
• Cite this conference paper

• Maria da Conceição da Costa Tavares 7 &
• Graça Maria do Carmo Azevedo   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6346-4035 8  

Part of the book series: Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies ((SIST,volume 208))

Included in the following conference series:

• International Conference on Tourism, Technology and Systems

10 Citations

2 Altmetric

In this work, we intend to understand the context of Society 5.0 in business and deepen its potential for proactivity in the Sustainable Development Goals, as well as potential implications on accounting and sustainability reporting, based on recent publications. Taking into account that the changes imposed by the 4.0 industry are comprehensive, it becomes relevant to understand the current impacts and future expectations of this evolution with cross industry 5.0.

In a Society 5.0 it is intended that all citizens get dynamically involved, introducing digital technologies in a variety of systems and accelerating their implementation. It is thus proposed to deepen the concept and the potential of the individual-technology relationship in the promotion of their quality of life enhancement and that of society’s, in favors of sustainable development, sustainability and its reporting.

For this reason, it is a contribution that seeks to collaborate in this very urgent and necessary discussion, presenting its evolution. It is concluded that Industry 4.0, and recently the so-called 5.0, have come to stay and put artificial intelligence, robotics, big data, etc., at men’s service, in which everything will be connected and society will have to be adaptable.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

• Available as PDF
• Read on any device
• Instant download
• Own it forever
• Available as EPUB and PDF
• Compact, lightweight edition
• Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
• Free shipping worldwide - see info
• Durable hardcover edition

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Smart Society 5.0 for Social and Technological Sustainability

Sustainability in Society 5.0 Perspective

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Higher Institute for Accountancy and Administration, University of Aveiro (ISCA-UA), Aveiro, Portugal

Maria da Conceição da Costa Tavares

Higher Institute for Accountancy and Administration, Research Centre on Accounting and Taxation (CICF), University of Aveiro (ISCA-UA), Aveiro, Portugal

Graça Maria do Carmo Azevedo

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Maria da Conceição da Costa Tavares .

Editor information

Editors and affiliations.

Institute of Accounting and Administration of Porto (ISCAP), Polytechnic Institute of Porto, São Mamede de Infesta, Portugal

João Vidal de Carvalho

ISEG, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal

Álvaro Rocha

School of Hospitality and Tourism, Polytechnic of Porto, Vila do Conde, Portugal

Pedro Liberato

Universidad EIA, Envigado, Colombia

Alejandro Peña

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

About this paper

Cite this paper.

da Costa Tavares, M.d.C., do Carmo Azevedo, G.M. (2021). Society 5.0 as a Contribution to the Sustainable Development Report. In: de Carvalho, J.V., Rocha, Á., Liberato, P., Peña, A. (eds) Advances in Tourism, Technology and Systems. ICOTTS 2020. Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies, vol 208. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-4256-9_5

Download citation

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-4256-9_5

Published : 17 November 2020

Publisher Name : Springer, Singapore

Print ISBN : 978-981-33-4255-2

Online ISBN : 978-981-33-4256-9

eBook Packages : Intelligent Technologies and Robotics Intelligent Technologies and Robotics (R0)

Share this paper

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• Publish with us

Policies and ethics

• Find a journal
• Track your research

Society 5.0: This is why it absolutely does matter

Society 5.0 is a human-centred approach to the technological future. This is according to three University of Pretoria professors − Alta van der Merwe, Hanlie Smuts and Aurona Gerber – who are part of a research group that focuses on enhancing an understanding of the Society 5.0 concept.

They caution that technology should not be the point of friction between product and people, saying designers and software developers need to become more human-oriented.

So, what does the ICT industry need to know about Society 5.0 and how will it shape our future approach to technology?

The professors present the following argument:

Society 5.0 is a concept introduced in Japan in the Fifth Science and Technology Basic Plan and follows the hunting society (Society 1.0), agricultural society (Society 2.0), industrial society (Society 3.0) and information society (Society 4.0).

Society 5.0 is often associated with Industry 4.0 and although there is a relationship, they do not address the same key concerns. In Industry 4.0, the generation of knowledge and intelligence is achieved primarily by humans with the support of technology; in Society 5.0, the generation of knowledge and intelligence will come from machines through artificial intelligence at the service of people.

One can see Society 5.0 as a human-centred Industry 4.0 environment. The Cabinet Office of Japan, where the Society 5.0 concept originated, defines Society 5.0 as: “A human-centred society that balances economic advancement with the resolution of social problems by a system that highly integrates cyberspace and physical space.”

So why does it matter? Why should we take cognisance of the concept of Society 5.0?

Its main aim is to bring human concerns back into how we think about technologically-advanced environments, as well as establish better human-machine interfaces.

The better we get at the seamless integration of human and machine, the better we are able to use all means possible towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), where we focus more on humans in a fast-paced technology-growing economy.

The SDGs, with an economic and social development agenda as it pertains to sustainability, ultimately impacts all countries, organisations, teams and individuals. In order to consider this impact holistically, we can model the notion of a Society 5.0 shown in Figure 1.

Seven key concepts are incorporated into the model of Society 5.0, where data and connectivity are regarded as the foundation for Society 5.0. On the left side in Figure 1 is the socio-technical considerations, and on the right, the impact. Overarching is the concept of Society 5.0, where the focus is on the humanising of technology.

Foundations

There are two fundamental technologies mentioned in the foundations because we consider these as the basis of most of the technology breakthroughs that underpin Society 5.0 today.

The first is the availability of data, and the second is connectivity that makes this collected data available to whomever or whatever needs it.

Data is being generated by mostly all of our activities through our connected devices, be it your computer, smartphone or smart watch, or even your smart home with all of its sensors in smart appliances, such as a smart television, washing machine or smart fridge, even a smart security system, all connected to the internet.

While there are many discussions and perspectives about our participation in this new mode of operating, we participate in this new reality both as individuals and as part of a community or organisation.

The ethical perspectives, as well as how these technologies are transforming and disrupting society, are beyond the scope of this discussion; however, these fundamental technologies form the basis of Industry 4.0, and ultimately, Society 5.0.

Many technologies are enabled by the growth in the foundational technologies; namely, the availability of data and the mechanisms that allow for the access to this data via connectivity.

Artificial intelligence (AI) encapsulates in essence a number of intelligent algorithms that exploit available data to detect patterns and insights into the behaviour of people, sensors and devices that are not detectable by the stakeholders that generated the data.

Using data and computational intelligence, AI is able to detect patterns that are not visible to humans, and thus, learn from data, and predict outcomes or behaviours.

AI provides many advantages, including the early detection of disease, business opportunities given customer preferences and many more. The internet of things (IOT) describes this network of connected devices and sensors that creates the opportunities for intelligent insights and management of all participants, be they sensors, devices or people through smart devices.

Data science is the umbrella term that describes the science of the management and use of data, and data science is the fundamental science (discipline) that enables the use of data with all its challenges and opportunities that enable all the opportunities this new digitised world provides.

Industry 4.0 is a collective term that describes the combination of all these technologies and their integration into society.

Socio-technical

The fourth industrial revolution, or Industry 4.0, is marked by a fast-paced change in technologies that are altering the way we socialise, live, work and play.

The term Industry 4.0 was formalised in 2011 in Germany at the Hannover Messe and was initially associated with the optimisation of the manufacturing industry through smart technologies, such as IOT, internet of services, sensors and artificial intelligence.

However, disruptive technologies emerging from Industry 4.0 now present new ways in which organisations can conduct business and innovate value chains based on digitalisation opportunities.

Hence, the impact of Industry 4.0 is associated with socio-technical aspects, as organisations have to navigate technology choices and application, as well as manage non-digital outcomes due to work automation and skills required to operate in an advanced technological environment.

In this context, the interrelatedness of social and technical aspects of an organisation or society as a whole must therefore be considered. Industry 4.0 enables joint optimisation, with a shared emphasis on achievement of both excellence in technical performance and quality in people's work lives.

Society domains

Society 5.0 influences different domains, including for example, education, health and medicine. In each domain, the impact will be different and the use of technology would create opportunities for the improvement of livelihood.

Dr Nakamura Michiharu, senior advisor to the Japan Science and Technology Agency, linked the vision of Society 5.0 with the UN’s SDGs.

For example, SDG 4 focuses on education, with the emphasis on using technologies such as e-learning systems to make education affordable and available to everyone.

In 2020, the use of e-learning systems became highly pertinent during the worldwide lockdown periods when teachers and students had to adapt to remote teaching and learning. The question that arises now is how technology can be used to further assist education. What will the future of education be in Society 5.0?

Similarly, the domain of health can benefit from the use of technologies, with smart devices used to capture data and feed it to appropriate support structures to improve and monitor health. The potential of the use of lifestyle management and long-term monitoring is now only starting to show the possible benefits to a population that is growing and reaching a more mature age.

Impact of Society 5.0

Society 5.0, with all its different aspects, not only presents a technical challenge, but also significantly changes the structures and business processes of organisations. It requires leaders in a company to consider a new level of socio-technical interaction and planning.

Autonomous and self-organised resources, included in value chains combined with data science, enable the opportunity to offer smart products and services, packaged for the individual consumer.

Data-driven decision-making now consists of more than just descriptive or diagnostic analyses. It also enables organisations to derive insight from predictive models, combining the knowledge in people and the knowledge in machines for evidence-based outcomes.

Digital transformation processes must therefore not only take cognisance of new and agile business model opportunities, but also consider the future of work and its impact on fundamental skills.

These skills now include critical thinking and problem-solving to help employees quickly identify changes in their environment and adapt response strategies targeted at achieving the desired outcomes.

Humanising technology

Technology should not be the point of friction between product and people. Designers and software developers need to become more human-oriented to help users to streamline, simplify, evaluate and filter, and to better understand human needs, emotions and human behaviour.

Digitalisation is integrated into everyday activities such as banking, shopping, news, social media, chatbot service agents and smart home applications.

Conversational interfaces, augmented reality and virtual reality allow us to immerse ourselves in a computer-simulated reality applied in gamification, learning and education. Technologies will evolve, but the human in this context is the constant, using technology as a means.

Society 5.0 is a human-centred approach to the future societies that follow previous societies. Technology will be used to enhance the way we live, while it is interwoven into everything we do and engage in.

Technology needs to become part of our life without interfering with our quality of life. A human-centred approach means we need to rethink the way we design technologies, with the focus on human support, use and benefit.

Nobody knows with certainty what new technologies will emerge, what new industries will materialise and what skills will be in high demand. What we do know is that the future will be radically different from the work environment of today, and the pace of change will be faster than anyone expects − Society 5.0 matters!

The professors:

* Prof Alta van der Merwe, deputy dean: teaching and learning, EBIT faculty, University of Pretoria

* Prof Hanlie Smuts, associate professor, Department of Informatics, University of Pretoria

* Prof Aurona Gerber, associate professor, Department of Informatics, University of Pretoria