Industrial Policy 5.0 – SEISMEC at the Up-Skill Final Conference | Brussels, 11th February, 9:30
On 11 February 2026, the SEISMEC project will contribute to the Up-Skill Final Conference: Industrial Policy 5.0, a hybrid event taking place at the NH Collection Brussels Centre. The conference gathers researchers, industry representatives, policymakers, and social partners to examine how Industry 5.0 can move beyond policy discourse and become embedded in everyday practice within European manufacturing companies. Drawing on empirical insights from the Up-Skill project, as well as perspectives from companies, unions, and academic experts, the event will focus on the drivers of change and the barriers that continue to slow meaningful transformation.
From a SEISMEC perspective, the conference directly aligns with our work on human-centricity, skills, and organisational change. SEISMEC will be represented in the Transitions session by Jason Pridmore from Erasmus University Rotterdam, contributing alongside sister projects such as BRIDGES 5.0 and PROSPECTS 5.0. This session will explore how Industry 5.0 principles are being translated into organisational practices, with particular attention to the realities of workplace change, the role of skills, and the need to design technologies that genuinely support workers rather than simply optimise processes.
Beyond stand-alone projects, the conference provides a wider European perspective on Industry 5.0 as an evolving policy and practice agenda. Early signs of uptake are multiplying, but discussions regularly stress that Industry 5.0 remains unfulfilled as an elaborated paradigm shift. Closer correspondence among policy ambitions, regulatory frameworks, industrial strategies, and lived experiences of workers and firms across Europe is needed to accelerate it. Merging voices from several Horizon Europe projects and experts, the Up-Skill Final Conference is valued for giving food for thought on how human-centric, sustainable, and resilient manufacturing can become real on a wide scale — and how collaboration in Europe can help make Industry 5.0 move from aspiration to practical reality.
Detailed agenda and registration: Advancing human-centric industrial transformation through research, policy dialogue, and real-world insights
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