Innovation Accelerator: How TotalEnergies Moves Innovation from Problem to Test in One Year
With €1 billion spent each year on research and innovation, TotalEnergies cultivates a long-standing pioneering spirit — from cutting-edge drilling in the early 20th century to the Pangea supercomputer, one of the world's most powerful, based in southwestern France. But at Tech For Industry Show 2026 (Paris Expo Porte de Versailles), its head of innovation defends a conviction: in today's context, industrial innovation must change its timescale.
From the Long Research Timeframe to Industrial Short Time
Historically, decades pass between an innovation and its mass commercialization (photovoltaic panels, electric cars…). But the context has changed: geopolitical instability requiring constant adaptation, new types of partners (notably startups) and a far more varied geographic ecosystem, and above all the imperative of energy transition — an oil and gas company that must transform fast to lead in new energies. Hence a radical goal: bringing innovation from the long research timeframe to one year between a problem raised by a site and the test of a solution.
Innovation Accelerator: An Entity to Break Barriers
To meet this goal, TotalEnergies created the Innovation Accelerator entity two years ago: around 60 people at headquarters, with a single mission — moving quickly toward testing new technological solutions, whether on a deep-offshore African site or an offshore wind turbine in the US. The team covers the group's entire energy ecosystem (oil production, renewables, electricity, lubricants) and works on solutions deployable wherever they make sense, not on isolated one-off problems.
Starting from Sites' Real Problems
First principle: working on problems expressed by the sites, projects and factories — not on topics identified by a specialist at headquarters, often disconnected from real field difficulties.
Promoting the Right to Fail
Second, more cultural principle: in a company with strong risk aversion (refineries, drilling, flammable products), innovation requires the opposite. "If you forbid failure, you forbid success": testing a solution that may fail lets you learn and find the unexpected gem. Promoting this right to fail is a real challenge in a company like TotalEnergies.
The Method: An Agile Squad per Problem
The team isn't made of specialists but of generalist project leaders, each handling several problems of very different natures (from oil to solar). For each problem, a squad is built around key roles:
- The business sponsor — from the relevant business unit (e.g. the head of solar farms); confirms the problem's relevance and commits to deploying the solution found to capture the expected value.
- The field operator — the person facing the problem on site; their presence ensures the solution developed stays aligned with the real problem and doesn't "drift."
- The technical expert — internal or external, brings the technological knowledge, while the Accelerator team focuses on removing barriers (budget, IT, governance, contractual).
An Agile SME at the Group's Core
The team works like a small SME with its own resources: a procurement team able to contract in under a month (a feat in a large CAC40 group), scouting and benchmarking to open up to the external market, coaching for project leaders, and internal communication to "market" solutions and win over the sites.
Two Concrete Cases of Reinvented Inspection
Oil Tanks Inspected Without Shutdown
Large refinery oil-product tanks must be inspected roughly every ten years — requiring them to be emptied (performance loss) and people sent in after months of scaffolding. TotalEnergies found on the market remote-controlled robots able to inspect the inside of tanks while they remain full and in service, with sufficient inspection quality, exposing no one. Several models were tested depending on product, height and corrosion type. Savings: over €10 million a year on the French refineries tested so far.
Ship Ballasts Inspected by AI Drones
Large offshore production vessels (FPSOs) have huge ballasts, traditionally emptied to send in teams in very poor-quality atmospheres (respiratory assistance, days of visual inspection). TotalEnergies tested drones equipped with cameras and embedded AI, following a pre-recorded path to inspect the entire volumes and automatically detect corrosion, enabling targeted repairs. A typical example of embedded AI on a drone in a confined space.
Results and Key Success Factors
In two years, the entity received over 500 problems, handled more than 250, manages around 150 live (to be tested in under a year) and has deployed about 70 across the company — for value counted in hundreds of millions of euros. Three takeaways: TotalEnergies is first an engineering company, whose engineering is the basis of performance; top management commitment (starting with the executive committee) is essential to provide the means and authorize pragmatism (waiving certain rules to move forward); and a dedicated team, centralized and connected to sites finally links innovation to real field needs, rather than a "dreaming innovation" with no outlet.
FAQ — Accelerating Industrial Innovation
What is a corporate innovation accelerator? A dedicated entity, here centralized at TotalEnergies' headquarters, whose single mission is to move quickly from a site's problem to a solution test — by removing internal barriers (budget, contracts, governance) rather than developing the technology itself.
How to inspect an oil tank without shutting it down? Using remote-controlled robots able to inspect the tank's interior while it stays full and in service, sending in no personnel and with sufficient inspection quality — avoiding months of downtime.
Why is the right to fail central to innovation? Because forbidding failure means forbidding testing, and thus forbidding unexpected successes. Testing a solution that may fail lets you learn and find the right next one.
What are the key success factors of such an approach? Starting from sites' real problems, building an agile squad per problem (business sponsor, field operator, technical expert), being able to contract very fast, and having strong top-management commitment.
Watch the Full Keynote
This conference was recorded at Tech For Industry Show 2026, the B2B trade show for industrial transformation (Smart Manufacturing, AI, Supply Chain) at Paris Expo Porte de Versailles. Watch the full keynote video above, and join us on May 19–20, 2027, Hall 7, for the next edition.
