An Overview of Blockchain for Industry 5.0: Towards Human-Centric, Sustainable and Resilient Applications

Industry 5.0 is an evolving concept that aims to enhance the way modern factories operate by seeking long-term growth, production efficiency and the well-being of industrial workers. Human-centricity, sustainability and resilience are the three pillars of Industry 5.0, which are developed on Industry 4.0 enabling technologies. One of the most compelling technologies to help implement the communications architecture proposed by Industry 5.0 is blockchain, which can provide trustworthy, secured and decentralized information to different industrial domains. This article provides an analysis of the transition between Industry 4.0 and Industry 5.0 paradigms. Moreover, it examines the benefits and challenges that arise when using blockchain to develop Industry 5.0 applications and analyzes the design factors that should be considered when developing this type of applications. Furthermore, it presents a thorough review on the most relevant blockchain-based applications for Industry 5.0 pillars. Therefore, the main goal of this article is to provide a comprehensive and detailed guide for future Industry 5.0 developers that allows for determining how blockchain might benefit the next generation of human-centric, sustainable, and resilient applications.