Skip to main content

Site navigation

  • University of Technology Sydney home
  • Home

    Home
  • For students

  • For industry

  • Research

Explore

  • Courses
  • Events
  • News
  • Stories
  • People

For you

  • Libraryarrow_right_alt
  • Staffarrow_right_alt
  • Alumniarrow_right_alt
  • Current studentsarrow_right_alt
  • Study at UTS

    • arrow_right_alt Find a course
    • arrow_right_alt Course areas
    • arrow_right_alt Undergraduate students
    • arrow_right_alt Postgraduate students
    • arrow_right_alt Research Masters and PhD
    • arrow_right_alt Online study and short courses
  • Student information

    • arrow_right_alt Current students
    • arrow_right_alt New UTS students
    • arrow_right_alt Graduates (Alumni)
    • arrow_right_alt High school students
    • arrow_right_alt Indigenous students
    • arrow_right_alt International students
  • Admissions

    • arrow_right_alt How to apply
    • arrow_right_alt Entry pathways
    • arrow_right_alt Eligibility
arrow_right_altVisit our hub for students

For you

  • Libraryarrow_right_alt
  • Staffarrow_right_alt
  • Alumniarrow_right_alt
  • Current studentsarrow_right_alt

POPULAR LINKS

  • Apply for a coursearrow_right_alt
  • Current studentsarrow_right_alt
  • Scholarshipsarrow_right_alt
  • Featured industries

    • arrow_right_alt Agriculture and food
    • arrow_right_alt Defence and space
    • arrow_right_alt Energy and transport
    • arrow_right_alt Government and policy
    • arrow_right_alt Health and medical
    • arrow_right_alt Corporate training
  • Explore

    • arrow_right_alt Tech Central
    • arrow_right_alt Case studies
    • arrow_right_alt Research
arrow_right_altVisit our hub for industry

For you

  • Libraryarrow_right_alt
  • Staffarrow_right_alt
  • Alumniarrow_right_alt
  • Current studentsarrow_right_alt

POPULAR LINKS

  • Find a UTS expertarrow_right_alt
  • Partner with usarrow_right_alt
  • Explore

    • arrow_right_alt Explore our research
    • arrow_right_alt Research centres and institutes
    • arrow_right_alt Graduate research
    • arrow_right_alt Research partnerships
arrow_right_altVisit our hub for research

For you

  • Libraryarrow_right_alt
  • Staffarrow_right_alt
  • Alumniarrow_right_alt
  • Current studentsarrow_right_alt

POPULAR LINKS

  • Find a UTS expertarrow_right_alt
  • Research centres and institutesarrow_right_alt
  • University of Technology Sydney home
University of Technology Sydney home University of Technology Sydney home
  1. home
  2. arrow_forward_ios ... Newsroom
  3. arrow_forward_ios ... 2022
  4. arrow_forward_ios 05
  5. arrow_forward_ios Preparing students for the fifth industrial revolution

Preparing students for the fifth industrial revolution

17 May 2022

As Industry 5.0 approaches, UTS is readying students for a future where human creativity will be integrated back into the technology landscape.

Image of boy in cardboard helmet interacting with light-filled boxes

Photo: Adobe Stock

Also called the fifth industrial revolution, this new era will see humans leverage the technological gains of Industry 4.0, which was focused on automation, artificial intelligence, Big Data and the Internet of Things, and transform them into human-centred solutions to a vast range of challenges.

As a university of technology, UTS is uniquely placed to prepare students for these new horizons.

“Industry 4.0 was human-less,” says Professor Peter Ralph, Director of the UTS Climate Change Cluster (C3), a leading sustainability research centre.

“In 5.0, we’ll take what we learnt from 4.0 and refine it, making it more fit-for-purpose for the post-COVID, climate-damaged world. Humans will play a key role in transforming 4.0 systems for the new world, taking the good parts of automation and disposing of the bad.”

At C3, Professor Ralph and his colleagues are doing just that. Building on early findings from the Industry 4.0 Algae Testlab, a bio-manufacturing facility based at the UTS Tech Lab, they’re exploring new opportunities for the production of algae-based bioplastics, food and cosmetics. This combination of human ingenuity and technology to achieve better outcomes for people and the planet is the hallmark of Industry 5.0.

Industry 4.0 was human-less. Humans will play a key role in transforming 4.0 systems for the new world, taking the good parts of automation and disposing of the bad.

Professor Peter Ralph
Executive Director, UTS Climate Change Cluster (C3) 

In fact, tech-integrated innovation is set to emerge in almost every UTS faculty, including those not always associated with industrial innovation. Another example is in the UTS Business School, where learners are investigating the impact of AI and Big Data on shaping customer service and digital strategy.

“Industry 5.0 is about moving forward to a more sustainable hybrid model that synthesizes the strengths between machine intelligence and human intelligence,” says TaeWoo Kim, a lecturer in the Business School’s Marketing Discipline Group.

“Many courses at the UTS Business School, including mine, aim to prepare the students to live in a world in which symbiosis with machines will be daily occurrence.” 

At the recently launched Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Fashion and Textiles, a partnership between UTS and TAFE NSW, staff and students will use advanced manufacturing techniques and the latest advances in fabrication, cutting and production to produce fashion outcomes that are good for industry, workers and the environment. 

Over in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, a new Criminology program is challenging students to work with the latest forensics technologies to fight crime in the 21st century.

“The skills that we develop and champion – such as communication, cross-cultural literacy, and critical analysis – will become even more important as our workplace settings merge with the incredible power of AI and Big Data,” says Associate Professor Susie Khamis, a lecturer in Public Communication.

“Our students will work with the awesome potential of digital technologies and assume a command position in their positive deployment.”

Share
Share this on Facebook Share this on Twitter Share this on LinkedIn
Back to Education

Related News

  • A naval ship at sunset.
    Building Australian capability and workforce in digital tech
  • A researcher sends commands to a robot.
    Your new workmate could be a robot

Acknowledgement of Country

UTS acknowledges the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation and the Boorooberongal People of the Dharug Nation upon whose ancestral lands our campuses now stand. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands. 

University of Technology Sydney

City Campus

15 Broadway, Ultimo, NSW 2007

Get in touch with UTS

Follow us

  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Facebook

A member of

  • Australian Technology Network
Use arrow keys to navigate within each column of links. Press Tab to move between columns.

Study

  • Find a course
  • Undergraduate
  • Postgraduate
  • How to apply
  • Scholarships and prizes
  • International students
  • Campus maps
  • Accommodation

Engage

  • Find an expert
  • Industry
  • News
  • Events
  • Experience UTS
  • Research
  • Stories
  • Alumni

About

  • Who we are
  • Faculties
  • Learning and teaching
  • Sustainability
  • Initiatives
  • Equity, diversity and inclusion
  • Campus and locations
  • Awards and rankings
  • UTS governance

Staff and students

  • Current students
  • Help and support
  • Library
  • Policies
  • StaffConnect
  • Working at UTS
  • UTS Handbook
  • Contact us
  • Copyright © 2025
  • ABN: 77 257 686 961
  • CRICOS provider number: 00099F
  • TEQSA provider number: PRV12060
  • TEQSA category: Australian University
  • Privacy
  • Copyright
  • Disclaimer
  • Accessibility