Industry 5.0 in Focus: LCAMP at the Forum on Vocational Excellence 2026
On September 9, 2026, the LCAMP project took part in the Forum on Vocational Excellence 2026 in Graz, Austria, presenting a session on how Higher Vocational Education and Training (HVET) can prepare learners for the shift toward Industry 5.0.
Unai Ziarsolo (LCAMP) and Christine Lichem-Herzog (FH Joanneum) led the session, titled “Industry 5.0 in HVET through Learning Factories 5.0: Pedagogy and Technology towards Industry 5.0.”
A Human-Centric, Sustainable, and Resilient Industry
The session opened by situating Industry 5.0 within the broader evolution of industrial paradigms — moving beyond the efficiency-driven focus of Industry 4.0 toward a model that places people, sustainability, and resilience at its core. Participants were invited to reflect, in small groups, on their own awareness and understanding of what Industry 5.0 means in practice.
Technology Meets Learning Factories
The second part of the session explored how Industry 4.0 and Industry 5.0 technologies are integrated into Learning Factories — hands-on environments where students and professionals can experiment with real industrial processes and emerging tools. A group discussion followed, focusing on strategies for bringing these technologies meaningfully into education.
Pedagogies for the Next Industrial Era
The final presentation addressed the pedagogical side of the equation: how Learning Factories 5.0 can be designed not only to showcase new technologies, but to actively teach the skills and mindsets Industry 5.0 requires. A closing group discussion gathered concrete strategies for embedding these pedagogies into vocational curricula.
Why It Matters
Across all three sessions, one message stood out: Industry 5.0 is as much a skills and mindset shift as it is a technological one. Learning Factories 5.0 offer a practical bridge between evolving industry needs and vocational education, giving learners direct exposure to human-centric, sustainable, and resilient industrial practices.
The interactive format — three rounds of guided group discussion — allowed participants from across Europe to exchange perspectives and contribute directly to the conversation on the future of vocational training.
The LCAMP Alliance would like to thank all participants and co-presenters for an engaging and insightful session at the Forum on Vocational Excellence 2026 in Graz.