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Focus on Industry 5.0: RECENTRE at the International Mechatronics Forum in Graz
Digitalization, sustainability and people at the heart of the transformation in production
29.09.2025
This year's International Forum Mechatronics (IFM) transformed the Styrian capital into a meeting place for around 450 experts from industry, research and politics. Under the guiding theme "Innovating Tomorrow - Mechatronics as a Success Factor", the focus was on new technologies, innovative business models and the future of production. The European RECENTRE project, in which several of the partners involved in the IFM are consortium members, was represented by the Mechatronics & Automation Cluster.
Industry 5.0: people, sustainability and resilience
While the term Industry 4.0 primarily emphasizes automation and digitalization, the term Industry 5.0 goes one step further: it focuses on people, strengthens ecological sustainability and builds on resilient production models. Topics such as artificial intelligence, digital twins, but also resource conservation and the circular economy are linked - always with the aim of using technology as a tool for sustainable and human-centered innovation.
RECENTRE: Transformation in the Alpine Space
The RECENTRE project, funded by Interreg Alpine Space, runs from 2024 to 2027 and brings together 13 partner organizations from six Alpine countries. The aim is to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the key sectors of mechatronics, automotive and bioeconomy in the transformation towards Industry 5.0.
At the International Forum Mechatronics 2025 in Graz, the consortium presented how RECENTRE works:
- Green transformation through resource-conserving production and circular economy
- Technological innovation using AI, automation and digital twins
- People-centered approaches with a focus on employee qualification and social responsibility
- Regional pilot projects to develop practical transformation plans for SMEs
RECENTRE thus presented itself as an example of how European cooperation and regional networks can specifically promote innovation and sustainability in the Alpine region.
Impetus for the future
The International Mechatronics Forum made it clear that the production of the future is no longer a distant vision, but a current design task - regardless of labels such as "Industry 4.0 or Industry 5.0". Projects such as RECENTRE provide concrete answers as to how companies can produce in a more ecologically sustainable, resilient and human-centered way.
The presentation in Graz not only gave RECENTRE visibility, but also valuable feedback from industry partners and research institutions - an important step towards driving change in practice.
Further information on the project
Funded by
RECENTRE is an Interreg Alpine Space project and is co-financed by the EU in Priority 3: Innovation and digitalization supporting a green Alpine region with EUR 2,122,851.90. The total budget of the project is EUR 2,998,469.22.
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