Questioning the Concepts of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and Industry 4.0 When Describing Modernization as a Sequential Framework

Sofía Alarcón and Claudio Alarcon ()
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Sofía Alarcón: Department of Legal Sciences, Faculty of Legal, Economic, and Administrative Sciences, Catholic University of Temuco, Temuco 4813302, Chile
Claudio Alarcon: Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Sciences, University of La Frontera, Temuco 4811230, Chile

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 10, 1-25

Abstract: This study analyzes existing concepts used to describe process modernization, including industrial revolutions and Industry 3.0, Industry 4.0, and Industry 5.0, here collectively referred to as the Sequential Industrial Modernization Framework. A simple industrial scenario was considered to evaluate whether current conceptual foundations could answer key questions regarding process classification and technological definitions. Surprisingly, the findings revealed that the industrial revolutions and Industry 3.0, Industry 4.0, and Industry 5.0 concepts fail to provide consistent answers, as different authors assign varying dates and technologies to each stage without offering clear definitions and explanations. These results highlight the need to critically reassess and improve the theoretical foundations to enhance the internal coherence, reproducibility, and applicability of the concepts in the scientific literature to describe modernization.

Keywords: fourth industrial revolution; Industry 4.0; smart systems; Industry 5.0; digital transformation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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