THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS AND INTERDISCIPLINARY CONVERGENCE OF SOCIETY 5.0 FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Keywords: Society 5.0, digital transformation, Industry 4.0, human-centred innovation, sustainability transitions

Abstract

This study investigates whether Society 5.0 is truly a new paradigm or a convergence of established scientific traditions. Using bibliometric analysis of 790 Scopus publications, including keyword co-occurrence mapping and temporal overlay visualisation, we identify a multidimensional conceptual structure comprising five thematic clusters that connect advanced technologies, human-centred design, and sustainability. Temporal analysis shows that Society 5.0 draws on theoretical streams dating back to the 1950s, progressing through three phases: foundational development, interdisciplinary integration, and applied implementation. The study confirms that Society 5.0 is not a revolutionary paradigm but an integrated framework combining mature technological and socio-economic theories, enhancing understanding of its origins and emphasising its importance for human-centred, sustainable development strategies.

References

Cabinet Office. Cabinet Office of Japan (2018). Society 5.0. Available at: https://www8.cao.go.jp/cstp/english/society5_0/index.html

Fukuyama, M. (2018). Society 5.0: Aiming for a new human-centred society. Japan Spotlight, vol. 37, no. 5, pp. 47-50.

Gladden, M. E. (2019). Who will be the members of Society 5.0? Towards an anthropology of technologically posthumanized future societies. Social Sciences, vol. 8, no. 5, p. 148. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci8050148

Salgues, B. (2018). Society 5.0: Industry of the future, technologies, methods and tools. Wiley-ISTE.

Carayannis, E. G., & Morawska-Jancelewicz, J. (2022). The futures of Europe: Society 5.0 and Industry 5.0 as driving forces of future universities. Journal of the Knowledge Economy, vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 3445-3471. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13132-021-00854-2

Pereira, A. G., Lima, T. M., & Charrua-Santos, F. (2020). Industry 4.0 and Society 5.0: Opportunities and threats. International Journal of Recent Technology and Engineering, vol. 8, no. 5, pp. 3305-3308.

Onday, O. (2019). Japan's Society 5.0: Going beyond Industry 4.0. Business and Economics Research Journal, vol. 10, no. 6, pp. 1511-1519.

Ferreira, C. M., & Serpa, S. (2018). Society 5.0 and social development: Contributions to a discussion. Management and Organisational Studies, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 26-31.

Shneiderman, B. (2020). Human-centred AI. Oxford University Press. Available at: https://arxiv.org/abs/2002.04087v1

Sachs, J. D. (2015). The age of sustainable development. Columbia University Press.

Sen, A. (1999). Development as freedom. Oxford University Press.

Kitchin, R. (2015). Making sense of smart cities: Addressing present shortcomings. Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 131-136.

Vallor, S. (2016). Technology and the virtues: A philosophical guide to a future worth wanting. Oxford University Press.

Deguchi, A., Hirai, C., Matsuoka, H., Nakano, T., Oshima, K., Tai, M., & Tani, S. (2020). What is Society 5.0? In Society 5.0 (pp. 1-23). Springer.

Shiroishi, Y., Uchiyama, K., & Suzuki, N. (2018). Society 5.0: For human security and well-being. Computer, vol. 51, no. 7, pp. 91-95.

Haenlein, M., & Kaplan, A. (2019). A brief history of artificial intelligence: On the past, present, and future of artificial intelligence. California Management Review, vol. 61, no. 4, pp. 5-14.

Vermesan, O., & Friess, P. (2014). Internet of things: Converging technologies for smart environments and integrated ecosystems. River Publishers.

Keidanren (Japan Business Federation). (2016). Toward realization of the new economy and society: Reform of the economy and society by the deepening of "Society 5.0". Keidanren.

Vial, G. (2019). Understanding digital transformation: A review and a research agenda. The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 118-144.

Mondejar, M. E., Avtar, R., Díaz, H. L. B., Dubey, R. K., Esteban, J., Gómez-Morales, A., ... & García-Segura, S. (2021). Digitalization to achieve sustainable development goals: Steps towards a Smart Green Planet. Science of the Total Environment, vol. 794, p. 148539.

Mavragani, A., Nikolaou, I. E., & Tsagarakis, K. P. (2016). Open economy, institutional quality, and environmental performance: A macroeconomic approach. Sustainability, vol. 8, no. 7, p. 601.

Geels, F. W. (2011). The multi-level perspective on sustainability transitions: Responses to seven criticisms. Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 24-40.

Deguchi, A., Hirai, C., Matsuoka, H., Nakano, T., Oshima, K., Tai, M., & Tani, S. (2020). What is Society 5.0? In Hitachi-UTokyo Laboratory (Ed.), Society 5.0: A people-centric super-smart society (pp. 1-23). Springer.

Fukuyama, M. (2018). Society 5.0: Aiming for a new human-centred society. Japan Spotlight, vol. 27, no. 5, pp. 47-50.

Salgues, B. (2018). Society 5.0: Industry of the future, technologies, methods and tools. John Wiley & Sons.

Norman, D. A. (2013). The design of everyday things: Revised and expanded edition. Basic Books.

Licklider, J. C. R. (1960). Man-computer symbiosis. IRE Transactions on Human Factors in Electronics, HFE-1(1), 4-11.

Norman, D. A., & Draper, S. W. (1986). User-centred system design: New perspectives on human-computer interaction. CRC Press.

Schuler, D., & Namioka, A. (1993). Participatory design: Principles and practices. CRC Press.

World Commission on Environment and Development. (1987). Our common future. Oxford University Press.

United Nations. (2000). United Nations Millennium Declaration. United Nations.

United Nations. (2015). Transforming our world: The 2030 agenda for sustainable development. United Nations.

Lee, E. A. (2008). Cyber-physical systems: Design challenges. In 2008 11th IEEE International Symposium on Object and Component-Oriented Real-Time Distributed Computing (pp. 363-369). IEEE.

Batty, M., Axhausen, K. W., Giannotti, F., Pozdnoukhov, A., Bazzani, A., Wachowicz, M., ... & Portugali, Y. (2012). Smart cities of the future. The European Physical Journal Special Topics, vol. 214, no. 1, pp. 481-518.

Albino, V., Berardi, U., & Dangelico, R. M. (2015). Smart cities: Definitions, dimensions, performance, and initiatives. Journal of Urban Technology, vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 3-21.

Sen, A. (1985). Commodities and capabilities. North-Holland.

Nussbaum, M. C. (2011). Creating capabilities: The human development approach. Harvard University Press.

Geels, F. W. (2004). From sectoral systems of innovation to socio-technical systems: Insights about dynamics and change from sociology and institutional theory. Research Policy, vol. 33, no. 6-7, pp. 897-920.

Bijker, W. E., Hughes, T. P., & Pinch, T. (Eds.). (2012). The social construction of technological systems: New directions in the sociology and history of technology. MIT Press.

Harapko, D. (2025). Theoretical Foundations and Interdisciplinary Convergence of Society 5.0: A Comprehensive Bibliometric Analysis (2017–2024) [Data set]. Zenodo. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17671634

Published
2025-12-30
How to Cite
Harapko, D. (2025). THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS AND INTERDISCIPLINARY CONVERGENCE OF SOCIETY 5.0 FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. Entrepreneurship and Innovation, (38), 175-183. https://doi.org/10.32782/2415-3583/38.28
Section
International Economic Relations