The nexus of sustainability and industry 5.0: Assessing Canadian organizations': Readiness for the next technological revolution.

The contemporary business landscape currently witnesses one of the most profound and revolutionary technological transformations -Industry 5.0. This revolution compels organizations with the need to navigate the intricate balance between the adoption of innovation and upholding the principles of sustainable economic growth. This investigation aims to uncover the strategies currently employed by Canadian organizations in anticipation of the challenges and opportunities presented by the synergy between sustainability and technological integration. Industry 5.0 presents an emerging phase that envisions a novel confluence: The empowerment of human beings in their interactions with machines, and cutting-edge technologies. In an era of technological innovations, the incorporation of artificial intelligence, and machine learning, a paradigm shift towards the importance of human-centric values is a key driver of sustainability. The paper argues that this human-centric approach is vital to attain efficient, long-term, sustainable social, environmental, and economic practices. This thesis presents a qualitative approach to research based on fourteen in-depth interviews conducted with senior managers and executives from various industrial sectors in Canada. Results obtained from a qualitative approach show that Canadian organizations have adopted sustainable practices, mainly to comply with required normative and governmental policies formally. These practices have yet to fully permeate private enterprises due mainly to the high costs of incorporating sustainable practices in all areas and departments or to budgetary restrictions and priorities in other strategic areas. Public organizations, on the other hand, show more standardized and formal sustainable strategies implementation framework. On the topic of the adoption of new technologies and the implementation of Industry 5.0- related practices, results show that the concept still needs to be fully understood. Organizations in both public and private sectors have adopted the latest trends in hardware, software, automatization of processes, and technology; however, several areas of opportunities are identified, regarding training and development programs, adoption of costly technologies, and fostering a change mindset across organizations.