Grand challenges in industrial informatics

Industrial Informatics has been a key enabler and even a main inducer of novel developments in industrial engineering along the last decade. This relevant role has become more visible in the context of the ongoing digital transformation processes, triggered by the Industry 4.0 “movement.” The so-called fourth industrial revolution is, in fact, the result of a convergence and integration of multiple information and communication technologies (Camarinha-Matos et al., 2019) (Zheng et al., 2021) (Alexa et al., 2022). Although initially focused on the integration of the cyber and physical worlds, as reflected in the terms “Cyber-Physical Systems” and “Internet of Things”, soon the idea was gradually expanded by the addition of “smartness”/“intelligence” facets, as reflected in the terms “smart devices”, “smart sensors”, “smart machines”, “smart systems”, and “smart factories”. As Industry 4.0 became a kind of buzzword, with strong political support worldwide, several other technologies, often branded as “exponential technologies”, and including intelligent robotics, artificial intelligence/machine learning, nanotechnologies, neuro-technologies, sensing and perception, additive manufacturing/3D printing, mobile computing, etc., joined the movement and helped create momentum driving significant industrial transformation and even revitalization. More recent research agendas, as the European Commission’s Industry 5.0 (Breque et al., 2021) (Maddikunta et al., 2022) and Society 5.0 (Broeckaert, 2022) (Deguchi et al., 2020), in addition to a greater emphasis on smartness/artificial intelligence, put the need to consider sustainability and human-centricity aspects more clearly on the table. This is also well aligned with the “UN Agenda 2030 for sustainable development” (Division for Sustainable Development Goals (DSDG), 2015). The field of Industrial Informatics is thus called upon to move from a purely techno-centric perspective, which mainly characterized Industry 4.0, to a more general perspective in which general societal concerns and human-centric developments are required.