atm I see no reason to EVER put points in the industry tree. even though 90% of my first games were 0 combat and a lot of industry/science.
My favorite Industry skills are Colony Management and Industrial Planning because if I did not use cores, I want to have a large self-sufficient empire with many planets and lots of income. Unfortunately, alpha cores have all colony skills for free (and Pather bug eliminates the only meaningful penalty of cores - terrorist attacks), making colony skills on the player character midgame crutch skills. Also, cores are effectively unlimited once player acquires an Ordo farmer fleet, then player can colonize many more planets than possible without cores. By endgame, I have buyer's remorse if I got those skills.
The other Industry skills are not a big deal by endgame when player can just build more pristine ships and still have income to spare.
If I play another game before next release, I should ignore Industry altogether and abuse cores left and right.