Artificial Intelligence and Process-Aware Systems in the Industry 5.0 Era: Industrial and Higher Education Applications

Dear Colleagues,

The increasing adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is profoundly transforming both industrial systems and educational environments, particularly in the context of the transition toward Industry 5.0. This transition emphasizes human-centricity, resilience, and sustainability, calling for intelligent systems that effectively integrate technological capabilities with human knowledge, skills, and decision-making. In industrial contexts, AI-enabled process-aware information systems and digital twins are increasingly used to support the understanding, design, and improvement of complex socio-technical systems, enabling organizations to cope with growing complexity and uncertainty.

In parallel, similar system-oriented approaches are gaining attention within higher education, where universities are challenged to prepare future professionals for data-intensive, AI-driven industrial ecosystems. Serious games, simulations, and AI-based learning environments are emerging as promising tools to foster experiential learning, allowing students to interact with realistic industrial scenarios, explore process dynamics, and develop both technical and transversal competencies aligned with Industry 5.0 needs. This Special Issue aims to bring together researchers and practitioners interested in the role of AI and process-aware information systems across industrial and university educational settings. Contributions are expected to advance the understanding of how intelligent systems can support human-centered processes, learning, and decision-making in complex environments. By adopting a systems perspective, this Special Issue aligns with the scope of Systems, encouraging interdisciplinary research on socio-technical systems that bridge industrial practice and higher education and contribute to the co-evolution of technology, organizations, and human capabilities.

This Special Issue particularly looks forward to receiving articles on the following topics, among others:

• Artificial Intelligence in Industry 5.0 systems;
• Process-aware information systems in industrial contexts;
• Human-centric and socio-technical system design;
• Digital twins for industrial operations and decision support;
• AI-enabled simulation and serious games for engineering education;
• Simulation-based learning environments in higher education;
• University–industry alignment through intelligent learning systems;
• Experiential and systems-oriented learning in operational and human excellence;
• Ethical, organizational, and human implications of AI adoption;
• Bridging industrial practice and higher education through intelligent systems.

References:
1. Fantozzi IC, Schiraldi MM (2025). “Bridging education and industry: university challenges and serious games for professional skill development”. The TQM Journal, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/TQM-12-2024-0511
2. Fantozzi, I.C., Martuscelli, L., Schiraldi, M.M. (2025). AI vs. human performance in university assessments: a case study in production management. In E.R. Dominik T. Matt (eds.), Manufacturing 2030: a perspective to future challenges in industrial production (pp. 127–137). doi: 10.1007/978-3-032-03722-0_11.
3. Fantozzi I.C.; Di Luozzo S.; Melloni, S.; Schiraldi M.M. The impact of university challenges on academic value added perception and job opportunities. In Proceedings of the Summer School Francesco Turco, 2023. Proceedings of the 28th Summer School “Francesco Turco”, Conference Paper, 2023. ISSN: 2283-8996.

Dr. Italo Cesidio Fantozzi
Guest Editor

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• artificial intelligence
• Industry 5.0
• process-aware information systems
• human-centric systems
• digital twin
• serious games
• simulation-based learning
• higher education