Following our GALILEO special session “Unlocking Industrial Flexibility: What Works in the Real World?” at FLEXCON 2026, three messages stood out from the discussion between industry and research partners.
- A strong business case remains essential. Industrial flexibility can create value, but uncertainty around future flexibility revenues can make investment decisions difficult. Greater predictability of the economic value of flexibility can help companies build stronger business cases and support long-term investment.
- Flexibility needs to become part of the organisation. Unlocking flexibility is not only a technical challenge. It requires involvement across the company, from management to the people operating industrial processes. Integrating flexibility into day-to-day operations requires appropriate processes, aligned KPIs, change management, and time.
- Market design can be an important enabler. Market products and participation requirements do not always reflect the operational reality of industrial processes. Minimum bid sizes, market rules, participation processes, and product requirements can play an important role in making industrial flexibility easier to access and valorise.
The discussion reinforced one of the central ideas behind GALILEO: industrial flexibility needs to work technically, economically, and operationally. Bringing these perspectives together is essential to move from identifying flexibility potential to implementing it in practice.
