Envisioning a European Industrial transformation. A systemic view of the built environment, sustainable food systems, and water resilience sectors

Cristian Matti (), Joao Farinha (), Valentina Barsotti, Joana Mateus Carneiro and Weronika Adamczak
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Cristian Matti: European Commission - JRC, https://joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/index_en
Joao Farinha: European Commission - JRC, https://joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/index_en

No JRC148333, JRC Research Reports from Joint Research Centre

Abstract: The Joint Research Centre, with the Industry 5.0 Community of Practice, conducted a strategic foresight exercise and produced three poster-based horizon-scanning syntheses mapping contextual drivers, enablers, and barriers shaping European industrial transformation across key systems: water resilience, the built environment, and sustainable food systems. Developed using the FUTURINNOV methodology, each poster examines transition challenges through STEEP contextual factors and evaluates them against the core Industry 5.0 pillars of human-centricity, sustainability, and resilience. The first poster, “Water Resilience,” presents water security as a critical aspect of industrial transformation, identifying challenges such as digital-water skills deficits, fragmented basin governance, legacy asset costs, and obstacles to resource-recovery solutions. The second poster, “Built Environment,” examines the convergence of AI-driven edge technologies, circularity, and net-zero objectives, noting that fragmented permitting, uneven regional capacities, and proprietary lock-ins impede equitable decarbonisation of building stock. The third poster, “Sustainable Food System,” investigates smart farming, precision agriculture, and interoperable data ecosystems, highlighting risks including smallholder exclusion, market concentration, and misaligned incentives. Across all domains, the posters illustrate that technological readiness by itself does not ensure systemic impact. Achieving meaningful transformation necessitates co-creation, targeted workforce upskilling, data sovereignty, and harmonised regulatory frameworks to avoid exacerbating regional disparities. Developed with a STEEP canvas approach, these posters function as open and adaptable sensemaking tools to inform future foresight cycles and assist stakeholders in co-designing actionable transition pathways.

Date: 2026-10
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