Our team is back from NECX, and if there’s one theme that stuck with us more than any single technology, product, or panel discussion, it’s collaboration. From the hallway conversations to the keynote stages, the energy at this year’s conference made one thing clear: no single organization, no matter how advanced its technology or how deep its expertise, is going to meet the challenges facing our industry alone. As a data historian and predictive maintenance solution provider working alongside our parent company, BNF Technology, we left NECX energized about what collaboration, at every level, can accomplish.
Collaboration from Local to International
One of the most encouraging things about NECX was seeing the breadth of engagement across the global industry. Attendees, exhibitors, and speakers came from every corner of the world (including our South Korean parent company BNF Technology), all wrestling with a shared challenge: demand is accelerating and will only continue to accelerate. The International Energy Agency put a number on it, noting that the next five years will add on average 50% more electricity demand per year than we saw over the past decade. That’s not a gradual curve. It’s a step change and it’s a global one. Challenges of this scale can’t be solved with local solutions alone. They require global collaboration, shared knowledge, and a willingness to learn from how other regions and markets are approaching the same problem.
That global mindset also shows up in supply chain strategy. Building partnerships across borders isn’t just good business; it’s a hedge against risk. Diversified, international supply chains are more resilient, more adaptable, and better positioned to absorb shocks than any single-source, single-region approach. The organizations we spoke with at the conference that are actively building these cross-border relationships are the ones we believe will be best prepared for what’s coming.
And then there’s the workforce. A stronger, more connected industry is a more attractive one. The Department of Energy estimates that the nation’s current nuclear reactor fleet employs approximately 100,000 people and that number is expected to grow to 375,000 by 2050 as advanced reactors are deployed and commercialized. Workforce growth like that doesn’t happen magically. It happens because an industry becomes visible, exciting, and worth joining. Industrial collaboration, and the shared momentum it creates, is part of what draws the next generation of talent in.
Collaboration Across Organization Types
Meaningful industrial collaboration also doesn’t happen between one type of organization; it happens across all of them. That was obvious just walking the floor where power generators, EPCs, research institutions, software providers, and manufacturers all showed up. And each organization represents a piece of the same puzzle. And that puzzle doesn’t come together in a single meeting. Real collaboration among this mix has to happen before, during, and after a project, not just at the kickoff meeting.
That starts with coordination, and coordination starts with communication. The projects that go smoothly are almost always the ones where lines of communication opened early, well before contracts were signed or timelines were locked in. Waiting until problems surface to start talking is waiting too long.
It also requires understanding perspective. Every organization at the table has different resources and different constraints. A software provider’s operations aren’t the same as an EPC’s, and a research institution’s timeline doesn’t look like a manufacturer’s. Recognizing those differences and building them into how the partnership works, rather than glossing over them, is what turns a one-time transaction into a lasting, genuine win-win.
And when that coordination and perspective come together, growth follows. It’s the reason people say 1 + 1 = 3. The right combination of partners doesn’t just add value, it multiplies it.
Collaboration at the Individual Level
At the end of the day, though, all of this comes back to people. Organizations don’t collaborate; people do. Every partnership starts with two individuals finding common ground, and that’s worth remembering as the industry continues to be complex. Building those connections, and being open to new ones, is what makes the rest of this possible.
It’s also about sharing expertise. The people doing this work come from different backgrounds (different education, different career paths, different industries) before landing here. That diversity of experience is a strength, not a complication. It’s how gaps in thinking get caught and how better ideas get found.
And perhaps most valuable of all is a willingness to talk honestly about wins and losses. Nobody needs to reinvent the wheel. Hearing what worked, what didn’t, and what someone would do differently next time is worth more than any pitch. Lessons learned, shared freely, save everyone time and money.
Next Step
We believe in the power of industrial collaboration; it’s why we build the tools we build. Our data historian and predictive maintenance solutions exist to connect people with the right data and the right insights, so decisions get made faster and collaboration gets easier, not harder. If this conference reinforced anything for us, it’s that the best outcomes come from working together.
If you’re ready to start that conversation, reach out. Let’s collaborate.
