Society and Business 5.0 is the new paradigm of the Japanese development model that enhances human capital

“If I'm not for me, who is for me? And, if I'm only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?”

(Talmud - Pirkei Avot - The maxims of the fathers)

After the G7 meeting in Hiroshima, preparations are in full swing for the handover of the G7 2024 in Italy. Among the key topics of the works, in addition to that of health already illustrated, certainly the world of work hinged on a model of society that is already a new cultural paradigm and which will emerge from this epochal social and economic transition phase of polycrisis and post-globalization .

And it is precisely the eminent professor Yuko Harayama who was called by the Japanese Prime Minister to define a new model of economic and social development by initiating the concept of society and enterprise 5.0. The previous Enterprise 4.0, born in Germany, remains synonymous with the fourth industrial revolution based on the Internet of Things and real-time data communication for an ubiquitous factory, physical and virtual at the same time. It is an outdated paradigm focused on enabling technologies, efficiency and productivity.

What is Enterprise 5.0? The Japanese model

Enterprise 5.0, on the other hand, is a paradigm focused on people and ontechnology, on the quality of life and sustainability, with the support of industry 4.0 technologies, starting from a changed relationship between man and robot. A society that seeks to balance economic development with the resolution of socio-environmental problems, in which technologies are used not only for profit, but to improve the quality of life of every citizen. The quality of life of each individual, with respect for his gender, his preferences, every type of "diversity".

An example of applying the model naturally comes from agricultural sector. Japan it has big cities like Tokyo, and in rural areas where agriculture is a dominant activity young people don't like to stay there, they are attracted to big cities. Therefore, the average age of the population that remains in the agricultural sector is very high, which is no longer sustainable. Hence, the way Japan handles the agricultural sector has been changed. The Government Plan on Society 5.0 has seen initiatives and funding to digitize it and make it more attractive to young people, who can run it like a business using new digital tools such as weather data, crop growth data, market conditions, food trends and needs. Furthermore, introducing the use of biotechnologies. It is a question of putting together different challenges with the aim of making the agricultural products requested by consumers available when they want it, while respecting health and the environment and bringing young people back to repopulate the countryside and dominate the redemption of the primary sector. Intersectoral actions have been added to this. If we look at the challenge of the elderly, which in fact sees Japan and Italy experiencing the same emergency on the management of longevity, a mix of knowledge is clearly needed: medical knowledge, technological knowledge (e.g. for autonomous driving), etc. to revitalize the involvement of the over 60s in the workplace and in society.

Italy vs Japan: challenge between work and longevity

now looking at theItaly photographed by EIGE data, European Index on Gender Equality, the job dimension sees it bringing up the rear of Europe. Therefore, in confirmation of the results on a larger scale of the Global Gender Gap Report 2022, published by the World Economic Forum, in the dimension of economic participation and opportunities, similar to the dimension of work proposed by EIGE, it follows that the real emergency social network concerns the participation and conditions of women in the world of work, and not only.

Women who in Italy find themselves going through the commitment to acquire the skills enabling a work complexity, profoundly changed by the advent of the digital, in the midst of the ford of the gender gaps present precisely in the skills: technical, scientific, digital and financial and to the detriment of full social and labor participation. Women who suffer wage differentials, career opportunities and therefore pension differentials on equal merit. The economic development of a country inevitably passes, as for businesses, from putting life at the centre gender equality andinclusion.

On the other hand, just think that the definition of "female enterprise" since 1992 has never been updated! And how can we define norms and initiatives in favor offemale entrepreneurship if we are not able to draw coherent and representative data of reality?

A company, which can be our work landing place, or our enterprise, as a result of starting up an activity that immediately marries the values ​​of society 5.0 and which is human-centric, sustainable and resilient, needs capable people more and more of lateral thinking, creativity and critical thinking, anticipatory thinking and cognitive flexibility and empathy. Then build the habitat for a prepared human capital to face the challenge that awaits us and the lack of which creates social emergency in the world of work as in companies. This is an epochal passage, for which life skills are central, and therefore to ensure that we can all be capable of this, an essential basis is the transformation deep of school system and entrepreneurial systemof the concept of work itself. 

Human capital and life skills "for life"

We all know how precious they are, how much they contribute to our well-being and that of others life skills:

• the ability to make decisions and solve problems;

• creative thinking and critical sense: that is, the ability to independently and objectively re-elaborate situations and events (a fundamental life skill for young people and to better combat and manage gambling addictions and all forms of addictions, especially digital addictions) ;

• effective communication;

• the ability to relate to others, so as to establish and maintain meaningful relationships in a positive way and also knowing how to break relationships, if necessary, in a constructive and non-violent way;

• self-knowledge, one's abilities, one's strengths and weaknesses, and one's needs;

• the management of emotions and stress management or the ability to recognize the causes that can create tension, and to know how to adapt to situations and changes.

And then theempathy that is, the ability to "put yourself in the other's shoes", that is, to listen without prejudice, trying to understand the other's point of view.

And precisely because they are skills, therefore skillsmeans we can learn and teach them. Indeed, they are taught. And they know it well Denmark. Since 1993, the teaching of empathy has been compulsory in schools and all students aged 6 to 16 participate weekly in the Klassens tid: the hour of empathy. And this is considered one of the factors contributing to the happiness of the country.

Empathy helps build relationships, prevent bullying, and be successful at work. It promotes the growth of leaders, entrepreneurs and managers. It will not be a coincidence that Denmark ranks first for the quality of work throughout Europe.

And what about the ability to communicate, both thoughts and emotions, moods, in an effective, respectful and never violent way. In Anglo-Saxon countries, the public speaking it is a subject of curricular teaching and in many realities the use of theater is used to develop versatility and identify tools for dealing with the different situations of life. 

In short, the school it is – and can increasingly be – an ideal environment for teaching life skills because it plays an important role in socialization processes. At school, children and adolescents are trained to think critically, to know how to collaborate with others, to create and maintain good relationships, to establish and recognize goals and evaluate their own learning.

Where are we today in Italy?

Earlier this year, it was unanimously approved 2782 / 2022 law, presented for the first time in the last months of 2020, which regulates the "Provision on the subject of experimental teaching of emotional intelligence education in schools of all levels". After years of unofficial experimentation, and good practices entrusted by the diligence of individuals, the life skills they enter, finally, by right, in the school programs. Also to face the complex challenges of digital sociality, such as that of FOMO, the syndrome of feeling cut off from society.

And they go alongside the other skills, those digital and those economic and financial. Enter the latter in the recent DDL Capital after years of discussions and bill proposals, despite Italy lagging behind in the financial literacy of both adults and young people.

The point is that between life skills and economic and digital skills there shouldn't be, in my opinion, a "fight". We need to get out of the dichotomous paradigm: there is no dichotomy, on the one hand emotions and feelings, "human touch", on the other technicalities and Artificial Intelligence. It is a very delicate and controversial topic, and in recent months ChatGPT has rekindled the debate on the potential of digital.

I believe that, as in every transformative era, it will also be the ability to draw inspiration from models such as that of the Japanese, which has already become global, and from which we will soon receive the baton of the G7 that will be able to guide us towards tomorrow. 

A new cultural paradigm

This is where the new paradigm also comes into play, that of Enterprise 5.0, which is, in my opinion, first of all a cultural paradigm. People who are open, inclusive, capable of imagining, intuiting, feeling and not just thinking. Empathic people, capable of – feeling inside – feeling inside Life, and acting in coherence with this. It is up to us, and to each of us, to deal with it together: it is our common responsibility. A human-centric, sustainable and resilient society is the one we will be able to build all together.

There are many ways to experience it social responsability and many skills help to do it.

On the importance of "working" for oneself, for one's own "business of life", and to have the courage to start on one's own, because one thing is certain, human "capital", or that mix of skills, personal characteristics , talents, supported by a well-diversified and resilient portfolio of skills, constitute the foundations and cogs for making any company project of today and of the future work well.

We are the bearers of cultural change and we have a duty to be and for this we have a duty to grow and evolve in an inclusive and sustainable context for the new generations. To recover a healthy world full of opportunities, a world that we build with our person, our strength, and not the imitation of a virtual model proposed by social networks that does not belong to us and does not evolve, and is weak because it is an end in itself itself, without perspective, sterile and non-productive of a farsighted future for an increasingly 5.0 country.