Innovation Leader Profiles

Marisa Kopec: Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening! Welcome to the Lux Research Innovation Leaders Series. I am delighted to have a distinguished leader with us today, Pascale Wautelet, Vice President of Global R&D and Sustainability at Avery Dennison. Welcome, Pascale!

Pascale Wautelet: Thank you, Marisa. I’m delighted to be here, and I appreciate the invitation for this fireside chat.

Marisa: I had the pleasure of meeting Pascale in Amsterdam earlier this year during an executive roundtable. She’s such an inspiration, and I’m sure today’s conversation will inspire you as well. Let’s start with an exciting topic: innovation strategy. Pascale, what does innovation mean at Avery Dennison, and how do you approach innovation strategy at your organization?

Pascale: Innovation at Avery Dennison today is about bringing highly differentiated solutions to meet high-demand or unmet needs in the market. It’s about creating value for our customers and our business. Historically, innovation at Avery Dennison was heavily product-focused and driven by a “technology push” approach. We’d develop new products and push them to the market without necessarily considering solutions like new business models or services.

Marisa: That’s interesting! At Lux, we focus on “human-centric innovation,” which means thinking beyond technology to understand markets, buyers, and downstream needs—even in B2B industries. Are you incorporating more of that perspective into your innovation roadmap?

Pascale: Absolutely. Over the past few years, the pace of change has accelerated significantly, and we’ve adapted how we think about innovation. We focus on identifying megatrends—like sustainability and digitalization—that are transforming every industry we serve. These include food and beverage, health and personal care, automotive, logistics, and more. To do this effectively, we take a value-chain approach, staying curious and anticipating changes across the ecosystem. Sometimes, even our customers aren’t fully aware of what they need. That’s where curiosity and deep exploration come in.

Marisa: Does AI play a role in these changes?

Pascale: Yes, we’re integrating AI pragmatically, step by step, prioritizing areas where it will have the biggest impact. We’ve focused on four key areas: factory operations (Industry 4.0), customer connections, employee experience (HR digitalization), and projects/solutions. For example, we’ve prioritized using AI and machine learning to enhance innovation processes, accelerate development, and share knowledge more efficiently.

Marisa: That’s fascinating. Let’s shift to culture and leadership. What do you think are the essentials for good innovation leadership in today’s rapidly changing environment?

Pascale: Curiosity and an external focus are absolutely critical. Leaders must anticipate the future, connect the dots, and inspire their teams to think beyond the obvious. Equally important is fostering a culture of experimentation. Innovation often involves taking risks, so leaders need to create psychological safety, encouraging teams to take calculated risks and learn from setbacks. At Avery Dennison, we’ve been shifting from a traditional “perfection-first” mindset to one that embraces agile methods and continuous learning.

Marisa: It sounds like you’re making a significant transformation from a traditional waterfall approach to a more agile one.

Pascale: Exactly. For close-to-core innovations, we still use structured processes like stage gates. But for more disruptive innovations, we prioritize speed and market-driven insights. It’s about creating minimum viable prototypes and learning alongside our customers.

Marisa: Reflecting on your seven years at Avery Dennison, what’s one achievement you’re particularly proud of?

Pascale: I’m proud of our ability to recognize the need for innovation beyond our core business. We’ve built dedicated “innovation domains” with resources focused on exploration, discovery, and incubation. This shift has required significant mindset changes but has positioned us to grow sustainably for the future.

Marisa: How do you drive alignment across your teams, especially between corporate R&D and business units?

Pascale: Alignment is critical. We’ve created “communities of practice” organized by technology and market segments. These bring together insights from different regions to build unified innovation pipelines. For disruptive innovations, we involve business leaders directly, ensuring that these efforts are embedded in the organization rather than isolated.

Marisa: That’s a best-in-class approach. How has Lux Research supported your innovation journey?

Pascale: Lux has been invaluable. We’ve used Lux for external perspectives through learning series, in-depth research on specific topics, and cross-industry benchmarking. Recently, we hosted a session with CTOs from various industries to share challenges and best practices, which was incredibly insightful.

Marisa: Thank you, Pascale. This has been an inspiring conversation. For those watching, don’t miss the opportunity to learn more from Pascale’s experience.

Pascale: Thank you, Marisa, and thank you to Lux Research for your partnership. It’s a privilege to share and learn with this incredible community.