Created in 2023, the CoP 5.0 has grown to more than 300 members from across Europe, reflecting rising momentum around Industry 5.0’s core principles of sustainability, resilience and human-centricity. The 2026 plenary aimed to assess achievements to date and align priorities with Europe’s wider industrial and policy objectives.
Europe Must Take the High Road on Competitiveness
Speaking in the opening panel on competitiveness, Judith Kirton Darling, General Secretary of industriAll Europe, referenced the industriAll Europe research presented last year that shows the depth of the crisis in 20 European sectors. She challenged narratives suggesting Europe must engage in a cost cutting, deregulatory race to remain competitive against the US and China. She argued that Europe should avoid a “low road” model built on cost-competitiveness, profit maximisation and short term fixes, warning that such an approach risks undermining the continent’s industrial base.
“Competitiveness must be built on skills, qualifications and long term thinking—not on cutting labour costs. Europe needs to step away from a death spiral of short termism.”
She called for a long term, proactive industrial strategy anchored in investment, innovation and quality jobs.
Innovation, Autonomy and Worker Participation
In a second round of exchanges, Judith Kirton-Darling highlighted the importance of the EU’s proposed Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA) as key component of Europe’s emerging industrial policy toolbox aiming at greater strategic autonomy. She stressed that increased investment in research and innovation is essential, saying that Europe’s challenge is political will.
She urged a reframing of workers’ roles in industrial transformation:
“Workers are agents of change. They must be involved early – anticipating developments, not involved only to react to decisions already taken whether in the boardroom or political negotiations. This is the essence of Just Transition.”
Judith Kirton-Darling argued that Industry 5.0 provides a unique opportunity to revisit Europe’s social contract, advocating for meaningful worker participation in industrial transformations and emphasising the need for large scale up and reskilling to prepare millions of workers for new technologies.
Final Message: Europe Needs a Real Investment Agenda
Asked to close the panel with one key priority, Judith Kirton-Darling was clear:
“Europe needs a proper investment agenda. The cost of inaction is far higher than the cost of action.”
Her intervention reflected the plenary’s broader message: that long term investment and people centred industrial policy are essential for ensuring Europe’s competitiveness in a rapidly transforming global landscape.