Meet Marielle Gagnière, Technology Director at Axens. With a career spanning across process engineering and technology development, she works at the intersection of innovation and industrial transformation, shaping solutions across traditional and emerging energy sectors. In this interview, Marielle reflects on technological leadership, bridging performance and innovation, and guiding teams and technologies through a shifting energy landscape. 

Interviewed by Nafisa Raihana

You have extensive experience across the energy sector, moving from process engineering to your current role as Technology Director at Axens. How has your understanding of technological leadership and innovation management evolved over time? 

When I started my career around 20 years ago, I began as a process engineer and later moved into a technology engineering role. At the beginning, the priority was to build a strong technical foundation. There is naturally a steep learning curve at that stage, and it is difficult to combine detailed technical understanding with a broad strategic overview at the same time.

First, I needed to understand the technology deeply enough to know how to use the tools, how the product worked, and what the technical challenges and possibilities were. Once I reached that stage, I began to connect the technical side with the needs of the market and of my clients.

Over time, my perspective has become much broader. I no longer think only about how a technology works, but also how it can be improved to better answer current needs, how it can perform better, and how it may be adapted to different applications or markets in the future.

That broader understanding comes through experience, but also through working with different kinds of people, including technical experts, colleagues closer to the marketing side, and, most importantly, clients. Clients are one of the main sources of insight when it comes to understanding the market and identifying where needs are evolving.

For me, technological leadership is about creating that connection between technical knowledge, market expectations, and future demand. It is not only about delivering the right solution today, but also about anticipating what will be needed tomorrow. You have to think across short-term, mid-term, and long-term horizons at the same time. With that more global vision, you are better able to guide innovation and maintain leadership in your field.

Technological leadership is about creating that connection between technical knowledge, market expectations, and future demand. 

As a technology provider, how is Axens responding to the need for both industrial performance and decarbonisation? 

These two goals are often presented as contradictory, but in reality, they are far more complementary than opposing. For us, improving performance is one of the ways to respond to decarbonisation needs.

The technologies we develop, whether catalysts, process design or broader technical solutions, are essentially tools that can be applied to different needs. In some cases, the same type of catalyst that has long been used in conventional applications can also be used in a different context to support decarbonisation. Therefore, we do not see industrial performance and decarbonisation as two separate or competing worlds. For us, they are connected.

People often describe the conventional oil and gas market and the decarbonisation market as if they were in opposition. But from the perspective of a technology provider, they form a bridge rather than a divide. In many ways, this is a continuation of work that has been done for decades.

Take the example of sulfur removal in gasoline. Higher-performance catalysts were developed in response to environmental concerns, once the link between sulfur emissions and acid rain became clear. The task was to improve technical performance in order to answer a wider environmental need. In that sense, what we are doing today is not fundamentally different. We design catalysts and processes to respond to market demands, regulatory expectations, and broader societal needs. At the end of the day, technical performance can also serve decarbonisation objectives.

Axens works across established petrochemical processes as well as lower-carbon pathways such as sustainable aviation fuel. How do you assess which technologies are ready to scale and which still require further maturity?

We have a dedicated process for developing technologies and products, and that process depends on the type of product we are preparing to bring to market. If a technology is commercialised, it means that we have de-risked it to a level that we consider mature enough for deployment. If it has not yet reached that stage, then we continue the steps required to reduce risk and validate the solution.

When we are talking about something entirely new, such as a new catalyst for a new market, the process begins with a comprehensive research and development program. If needed, development moves from laboratory scale to a demonstration plant before reaching industrial scale. That intermediate stage is essential because it allows us to test how the product reacts under more realistic conditions and to build the first references.

In other cases, the process or catalyst may already exist, but the application is new. Then the task is different. You still need pilot testing to de-risk the feed, product, or operating conditions specific to that new context, but some aspects are already known because the underlying process has already been operated elsewhere. 

It is very much a case-by-case approach. What matters is ensuring that every required step has been completed so that the technology is fully validated before it is proposed to the market.  

Your work spans licensing, process optimisation, and catalysis. How do these technical foundations influence decisions about which innovations can deliver real industrial impact?

For us, these areas are complementary. Having licensing, catalysts, and related capabilities within the same portfolio gives us a much more complete picture of the challenges our clients are facing. It allows us to act as a kind of “one-stop shop”.  

If you only offer one tool, then you cannot fully understand how that tool fits within the wider system. But when you have a broader toolbox and visibility over both the process design and catalyst side, you are in a much better position to propose the most suitable overall solution. For the client, the advantage is clear: one provider can take a global view of the full process and also take responsibility for the performance of the overall complex. That reduces risk.  

Today, one of the biggest challenges is not only technical. The political, regulatory, and economic context plays a major role. Without the right regulations and incentives, it becomes much harder for clients to adopt new solutions.  

That is why our role is not simply to offer the highest-performing technology in every case. The best product is not always the most advanced one, but the most suitable. In some cases that can mean a short-term solution with solid performance and lower cost while in other it can be a more advanced solution that requires significant capital. 

Therefore, the real challenge is often about whether the conditions are in place for adoption. In low-carbon technologies, especially, regulation, political direction, market acceptance, and public perception are all major drivers. That means the harder part is often creating the right environment for implementation, rather than solving the technical problem alone. 

The best product is not always the most advanced one, but the most suitable. 

In fast-changing sectors such as petrochemicals, gas, and sustainable aviation fuel, how do you keep technical teams aligned and effective?

This is a very important question, and it is one I often think about when interviewing newcomers. People coming from outside the sector sometimes say they only want to work on sustainable technologies not oil and gas because it is seen as something negative. But the reality is that today, both conventional and emerging technologies are part of the broader energy system. What we are living through is a transition, and transitions happen progressively. 

At Axens, we try to make sure that our teams work with clear short-term, mid-term, and long-term objectives. These are not driven by the same timelines or the same market conditions. Mature technologies are linked to established businesses and clearer market visibility, while long-term technologies may still be uncertain, with many possible directions and no immediate commercial outlet. That is why it is important to give teams a clear sense of purpose for each action they are taking.  

This became especially clear for me while building and guiding teams in a remote and hybrid context, across both mature and emerging technologies, where I need to be present to give direction and help the team move towards a common goal. As a manager, my technical expertise remains important, but it becomes the foundation rather than the whole role. That, for me, is one of the key lessons of leadership: expertise matters, but people are at the centre of making things work. 

At the same time, it helps to keep people grounded in core technical knowledge. Even if the market changes or a particular regulatory direction shifts, the underlying expertise in process design, catalyst development, and engineering remains valuable. What matters is building that core knowledge so that teams can adapt in the future. 

Expertise matters, but people are at the centre of making things work. 

You are one of the new Talents of the 11^th Women Talent Pool (WTP) programme. What do you see as the value of meeting people from different sectors and geographies through this programme?  

For me, it has been a very valuable experience. The WTP resonated strongly with my own experience, especially after expatriation and working in different environments.

When I first became a manager, I realised quite quickly that the role was very different from what I had imagined. I had underestimated how important the human dimension was for the job. That means understanding people, guiding them, and building a team. That human factor is central.

In technical careers, training often focuses on technical knowledge or operational management. It does not always encourage this kind of reflection. So, there is real value in stepping back, learning from others, and seeing how leadership challenges are shared across sectors through programmes such as the WTP.

Whatever your role, it is important to remain open-minded and be willing to listen to others. Regardless of your level of experience, when you move into a new environment, you are reminded very quickly that you still need to adapt, improve yourself, and build new ways of working with other people. That makes the learning process much more visible. This is especially true in management, where I have to work with very different people and adapt to different personalities, expectations, and ways of thinking.

That is one of the strengths of the WTP programme. It puts me in contact with people from many backgrounds and sectors, and that exchange is very valuable. It creates space to reflect not only on leadership, but also on my own experience, what I have learned, and how others approach similar challenges from different perspectives.