The Industry
5.0 Index

By Borko Handjiski, Ramiz Martinovic, and Camille Crittenden

Key Insights From The Report

• Industry 5.0 is a term for an aspirational Fifth Industrial Revolution, defined by placing human creativity and welfare, sustainability, and resilient systems at the center of business and government strategies for the benefit of economies, societies, and the planet.
• The combination of these elements can add $1 trillion annually to global GDP in addition to technology-driven profits. It will require collaboration between governments and businesses, with supportive policies, regulations, and incentives aligning profit with societal good. Early adopters of Industry 5.0 principles can capture new profit pools and avoid risks of stranded assets or regulatory drag.
• The Industry 5.0 Index, created by the Oliver Wyman Forum and the University of California, Berkeley, measures the readiness of 92 countries across 30 metrics to capture the potential of the Industry 5.0 era. Finland is the overall leader of the index thanks to its holistic investments in and top scores relating to workforce upskilling, sustainability, and digital and supply chain resilience. One such government initiative allocates roughly $3.6 billion until 2027 to fund research, new technologies, and support policies related to climate, industry, and job training.
• Investing in workforce upskilling and AI augmentation is essential to unlock productivity and attract and retain talent. Sweden, leader of the Talent sub-index, has top scores relating to patents for human-machine collaboration, workforce participation in high-tech industries, and workforce training and upskilling initiatives. One such government plan will invest roughly $700 million in upskilling initiatives that center on health, life sciences, AI, and graduate schools for AI-related topics.
• Sustainable practices can open new sources of cost savings, new market opportunities, and economic growth. The Netherlands, leader of the Sustainability sub-index, has high scores relating to environmental protection, patents for sustainable technologies, and circular economy transition measures. The government’s 2030 circular economy program outlines more than 200 policy measures to halve the use of primary raw materials by 2030.
• Resilience in supply chains, digital infrastructure, cybersecurity, and continued innovation spending are critical strategic priorities given increasing global risks. South Korea, leader of the Resilience sub-index, has leading scores relating to internet connectivity strength, investment ecosystems for AI-related firms, and government spending on research and development. One such government initiative announced in April 2025 plans to increase research spending for AI solutions to a record $25.2 billion in 2026.

How Nations Can Redefine Economic Progress

Every industrial revolution has propelled humanity forward in ways unimaginable. The first mechanized production, the second brought electrification, the third introduced automation, and the fourth’s digitalization drove enormous gains in productivity — creating more output in decades than in previous centuries combined.

Now, artificial intelligence, robotics, and more sophisticated green technologies are spurring the next stage: Industry 5.0. With each technological era, the pace of adoption quickened and the scale expanded. Industry 5.0 is on pace to break new ground: While it took four years for the internet to reach 50 million users, it took less than two months for a leading AI chatbot to do the same.

Earlier leaps also came with significant costs to society and our planet. The mills of the 18th century relied on child labor and dangerous working conditions. The industrial expansions of the 19th and 20th centuries brought environmental pollution and deep social inequalities. The digital age has also strained mental health and eroded privacy.

Industry 5.0 can provide a “win-win-win” outcome. Today, governments and businesses have an unprecedented opportunity to create value beyond profits if new innovations are directed toward holistic socio-economic impact, by embedding human-centricity, resilience, and sustainability into the fabric of economies. The combination of the three can add $1 trillion in global GDP on top of the profits arising from new technologies.

The Oliver Wyman Forum and the University of California, Berkeley, created the Industry 5.0 Index to help countries and businesses prepare for the future and this opportunity. The index complements existing global benchmarks by going beyond competitiveness and innovation. The International Institute for Management Development’s World Competitiveness Ranking measures countries’ structural foundations that determine their ability to create successful economies. The World Intellectual Property Organization’s Global Innovation Index identifies the most innovative economies that are the drivers of technological breakthroughs and leaders in their adoption.

Our index builds on both, and by benchmarking nations on their readiness to apply Industry 5.0 principles, it identifies those best positioned to lead in shaping a holistic model of progress. Countries that are successful in all three benchmarks will be global leaders in economic development.

The index measures the readiness of 92 countries across 30 metrics to capture the full value of the Industry 5.0 era — the Fifth Industrial Revolution. Readiness is measured across three pillars: the extent to which a country ensures its population and workforce benefit from the adoption of new technologies; the extent to which its economic model promotes environmental protection; and the national economy’s resiliency to shocks and risks, including those coming from new technologies, such as emerging cybersecurity threats. This report includes country profiles that serve as case studies to illustrate actions countries are taking in line with Industry 5.0 index principles.

The top five performers of this index are high-income nations in Europe: Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, and Luxembourg.

Finland leads the Industry 5.0 era with holistic investments in workforce upskilling, sustainability, and digital and supply chain resilience

Finland, the overall leader of the index, is holistic in its approach to creating value for the next industrial era. Its Innovation and Skills program alone touches on major elements of the three pillars of this index — Talent, Sustainability, and Resilience. The initiative aims to use roughly $3.6 billion by 2027 to promote research and new technologies, advance the growth of small and medium-sized firms, offer employment and skills opportunities, and use digitalization to advance society, government, and business. It also promotes energy efficiency and the adaptation of a circular economy to prepare Finland for climate change. Perhaps it is no surprise that, for years, Finland has also been the happiest country in the world, according to the World Happiness Report.

Other nations should be inspired by the example of Finland: Even a small country can build the foundations for an innovation-led economy built on holistic value creation principles.

Leading economies attract and upskill talent to supercharge AI’s societal and business promise

What differentiates Industry 5.0 from previous industrial eras is the potential for social gains from new technological advancements. Capital gains no longer come solely from technological adoption. Now, productivity boosts will come from a human workforce that’s augmented with tools like AI.

No country better represents an upskilled workforce than Sweden, which tops the Talent sub-index. The government announced an investment of $670 million in December 2024 for research and innovation initiatives that center on health, life sciences, and AI studies. Sweden’s national center for AI aims to work with the private sector in upskilling and educating workforces in all fields, attracting talent to work in the AI field itself, and drawing international talent to Sweden.

Separately, the government’s AI Commission proposed in November 2024 various initiatives for AI education and upskilling among public school and higher education institutions.

Sustainable innovation can lower emissions and bring business opportunities

The Netherlands tops the Sustainability sub-index, which measures countries on their readiness for sustainable innovation, workforce participation in green industries, and public expenditure on environmental protection.

Key to leading in the Industry 5.0 era is intertwining talent and sustainability initiatives — the latter of which can create new upskilling and job potential. The Netherlands’ Just Transition Fund will invest about $721 million to retrain 49,000 workers from fossil-fuel-dependent sectors to enter jobs in renewable or climate-neutral industries. And the Netherlands’ Action Plan for Green and Digital Jobs calls for cooperation between education and business sectors along with technical training initiatives.

Promoting a sustainable economic model is not just an opportunity for high-income countries. Emerging economies should follow the same path, as it brings the same economic impact. Consider Chile, which in 2023 launched an initiative to accelerate the processing of green patents, reducing the time for entrepreneurs to receive a patent by up to a third and bringing solutions to market faster.

Leading nations invest in digital infrastructure and supply chain resilience

Extreme weather events, mis- and disinformation, societal polarization, cyber insecurity, and interstate armed conflict are the top five ranked risks by expected severity in the next two years, according to a 2024 Marsh survey of nearly 1,400 global experts.

To build resilience, economies will need de-risked supply chains, reliable national infrastructure, a high capacity of critical services like healthcare, robust cybersecurity, and labor market flexibility.

The challenge in supply chains is widespread for business and government leaders: An analysis of Marsh McLennan clients shows that 65% of companies have a critical bottleneck somewhere in their supply chain network. And 89% of CEOs rated geopolitics, trade policies, tariffs, and industrial policy as risks to their company in a 2025 Oliver Wyman Forum survey.

South Korea leads the Resilience sub-index, measuring how prepared nations are in their supply chains, digital literacy, and infrastructure. Recent government supply chain initiatives include plans to reduce dependence on certain countries to 50% or below by 2030 for key products. By 2027, nearly $40 billion will be invested to expand domestic production, diversify imports, advance public stockpiling, and strengthen and protect key technologies. In March 2025, the South Korean government announced $34 billion in financial support to companies involved in strategic technologies such as chips and autos.

Digital literacy and cyber resilience are critical for economies, particularly as AI rapidly transforms the threat landscape with the ability to automate cyberattacks. In just six months, that capability has contributed to a sevenfold increase in cyberattack attempts on one tech giant, to 750 million a day. The United Kingdom, a leader in cyber preparedness, aims to enhance the country’s potential for innovation and expertise with measures like incentives to foster growth in cybersecurity firms and the appointment of a government leader to coordinate action across the cybersecurity industry.

Economies should also bolster the strength of their digital infrastructure supporting mobile coverage, internet speeds, and data centers. The United States and the United Arab Emirates, for example, partnered with several tech firms on the Stargate project to build expansive AI data centers and infrastructure in both countries.

Winning in the Industry 5.0 era means investing in both economic success and well-being

Countries that win the innovation race will no doubt lead in generating unprecedented financial value. A computing and AI firm’s ascent as the world’s most valuable company is already proof of the potential upside of Industry 5.0 technologies. But to unlock the full benefits of the new wave, countries will have to embed the principles this index measures.

The onus is on both governments and businesses to realize this potential. Governments must first establish regulations and incentives that align profit with broader societal benefits.

Business leaders should shift their mindset to view resilience as a new driver of ROI. Those that strengthen their businesses by designing supply chains, workforces, and technology systems with flexibility will outperform volatile markets.

Sustainability can now drive profits as well. Measures like energy efficiency and the integration of tools like AI to optimize material and waste efficiency, for example, can lower costs for businesses particularly as sustainable energy becomes more affordable. Early adopters of these methods can capture these profit pools, while laggards face stranded assets and compliance drag.

And where talent may be scarce, companies that combine human skills with automation can attract and retain the best engineers, operators, and innovators. Skilled workers will be more likely to stay at firms where technology augments their creativity and decision-making.

About The Authors

Borko Handjiski is a Partner with Oliver Wyman in the Government and Public Institutions practice, and leads Oliver Wyman’s public sector work in the UAE.

Ramiz Martinovic is a Principal in Oliver Wyman’s Government and Public Institutions practice, based in Dubai.

Camille Crittenden, Ph.D., is executive director of the University of California’s Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS) and the Banatao Institute.

This report would not have been possible without the contributions of Oliver Wyman Partners Matthieu De Clercq, Emilio El Asmar, Mona Hammami, Rupal Kantaria, Ana Kreacic, Joseph Mazloum, Frederic Ozeir, Abhishek Sharma, and Ben Simpfendorfer, as well as Layal Aazam, Jocelyn Cao, Laura Castillo, Anne-Laure Chauvin, Karim El Nahas, Lucy Frost, Charlotte Fuller, Shujaat Haq, Wai Leong Hoh, Jose Bawar Ibo, Dustin Irwin, Karolina Jaworska, Dan Kleinman, Driss Lahjouji, Nick Liptak, Alicia Lopez, Marissa Lynch, Mohaned Mahgoub, Maria Midiri, Jilian Mincer, Loren Naish, Brandie Nonnecke, Ramona Pillai, Jiri Piza, Sabine Rihan, Weronika Talaj, and Dan Winikur.