The Future of Industry: Human-centric Approaches in Digital Transformation

This book offers a selection of the best papers presented at the annual International Scientific Conference “Digital Transformation in Industry: Trends, Management, Strategies,” held by the Institute of Economics of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Ekaterinburg, Russia) on October 25-27, 2023.

The main focus of the book is on Industry 5.0, a new paradigm for industrial development related to the humanization of technology and the sustainable development of industrial ecosystems. Industry 5.0 is not a technological revolution but a value-based initiative that drives technological transformation by establishing the primacy of human value and creating value for humans. Key topics include the cross-industry potential of Industry 5.0, the humanization of industrial technologies, the transition from Industry 4.0 ecosystems to Industry 5.0, the achievement of sustainability in the process of digital transition, assessing the impact of industrial digital transformation on society and the environment, regional practices for digital transformation, digital transformation strategies of industrial enterprises, HR strategies for the digital transition of industry, among others.

Due to the scientific pluralism of the topics covered, the book is valuable to economists, researchers, and managers in industry and finance.

Dr. Andrea Appolloni is an Associate Professor of Sustainable Operations Management at the University of Rome Tor Vergata in Italy. He is also a visiting fellow at the Minzu University of China. His research areas and teaching activities are concentrated on Operations, Supply Chain, and Procurement Management, focusing on Sustainability and Innovation. He is responsible for several national and international research projects and is linked with several research teams at the global level. At the University of Tor Vergata, he is the lead of the specialization on Supply Chain Management at the Master of Science in Business Administration, and he is the coordinator of the ESA_LAB@UNITOV, a research space center supported by the European Space Agency.

Prof. Dr. Vikas Kumar is an Associate Dean for Research and Innovation and Professor of Operations and Supply Chain Management at the Faculty of Business, Law, and Social Sciences at Birmingham City University, UK. He serves on the editorial boards of several international journals and has published over 250 research papers and edited/co-authored several books in the operations and supply chain management domain. Prof Kumar has worked on several international collaborative research projects with countries like Brazil, Turkey, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Jordan, Columbia, Hong Kong and India. Prof. Kumar’s current research focuses on sustainable supply chain management and Supply Chain 4.0.

Evgeny Kuzmin is a researcher at the Department of Regional Economic Policy and Economic Security at the Institute of Economics of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He has published more than 150 research papers and  participated in the implementation of more than 10 scientific projects (grants) supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, the Russian Humanitarian Scientific Foundation, Russian Science Foundation, and Ministry of Education and Science of Russia. His research interests include risk, uncertainty, economic crises, sustainability, public-private partnerships, industrialization, industrial policy, industry markets, modeling, economic growth and development, and entrepreneurship.

Dr. Victoria Akberdina is Deputy Director of the Institute of Economics of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Head of the Department of Regional Industrial Policy and Economic Security. She conducts fundamental and applied research on problems concerning industrial policy formation, forecasting methodologies, and modeling the evolution of the economic and technological development of industrial complexes, as well as the structural dimensions of economic development. In 2019, she was selected as a Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.