Why Stage-Gate still matters in coatings R&D, and how a risk-based, Agile and AI-enabled approach can turn it from a bureaucratic process into a system for making better decisions.
I’ve spent much of my career working across R&D, technical development, innovation and commercialisation.
One question I increasingly hear is:
Is Stage-Gate still relevant in the 21st century?
My answer is yes, but not the Stage-Gate many organisations are still using (the original model by Robert Cooper was introduced nearly 40 years ago!).
The problem is when it becomes a bureaucratic process rather than a system for making better decisions.
The coatings industry has changed. Developing a paint or coating today is considerably more complex than simply finding a formulation that works.
R&D teams are dealing with:
And perhaps most importantly, customers increasingly expect suppliers of coatings to solve problems, rather than simply develop products.
So should we abandon Stage-Gate? I don’t believe we should, but rather it should be re-invented for a modern age!
A traditional approach can look something like:
Idea → Research → Formulation → Testing → Scale-up → Launch
The danger is that completing the activities becomes the objective.
A better question at every stage is:
“What uncertainty have we removed?”
For example:
This changes the role of the Gate.
The Gate isn’t simply: “Have we completed the required paperwork?”
It becomes: “Do we now have enough evidence to justify the next investment?”
That is a very different proposition.
This is particularly important in coatings R&D. Innovation by its very nature will involve uncertainty.
Stopping a project isn’t necessarily an R&D failure. Continuing to invest in a project when the evidence says it shouldn’t continue is a management failure.
A good Stage-Gate process creates the environment in which teams can identify failure early, learn from it and redirect resources. It’s important to be able to “fail fast and fail hard”.
This is where I think the biggest opportunity exists.
Within each Stage, R&D can operate in an Agile way:
Hypothesis → Experiment → Data → Learning → Reformulation → Experiment
Repeat. Learn. Adapt. Then come to the Gate with better evidence.
In other words:
They can be complementary frameworks rather than competing ones.
Not every coatings project needs the same governance.
A colour adjustment or a change in viscosity specification to an existing product, for example, shouldn’t require the same process as introducing a completely new resin technology into a globally regulated market.
Stage-Gate process complexity should therefore be proportional to:
Risk × Investment × Uncertainty × Commercial Impact
Low-risk projects should move quickly. High-risk projects need deeper technical, regulatory and commercial scrutiny.
So-called “Stage-Gate Lite” processes can reduce the administrative load for low-risk projects by removing the need for the complete oversight required for higher-risk projects.
The framework should provide discipline without suffocating innovation.
AI and digitalisation could fundamentally change how coatings R&D operates.
Imagine combining decades of formulation data locked away in company reports with:
We can potentially move away from “Let’s formulate and see what happens” to “Which experiment will give us the most valuable information?”
That is a major shift.
But AI doesn’t remove the need for Stage-Gate; arguably it makes its use more important.
Data still needs to be challenged, tested and converted into evidence that can be relied upon to show whether a coating system meets the specification it was designed for.
For me, it should connect:
Critically, these shouldn’t be isolated functions. R&D, technical service, manufacturing, procurement, regulatory, quality, marketing, sales and finance need to be involved at the appropriate points.
Because a technically successful coating system isn’t necessarily a successful product.
Perhaps the biggest change we need to make is how we measure R&D.
We shouldn’t simply ask: “How many projects did we complete?”
We should ask:
And ultimately:
Did we create something customers value and the business can deliver profitably and sustainably?
That’s why I believe Stage-Gate still has a very important role in coatings R&D. But the Stage-Gate of the future shouldn’t be a rigid linear process. It should be a dynamic decision-making framework that combines scientific freedom with commercial discipline.
The objective shouldn’t be to put innovation into a box driven by R&D. It should be to create the conditions in which the right innovations get the right resources at the right time, the wrong ones are stopped early, and the whole business, across multiple functions, is involved in the process.
I’d be interested to hear how other coatings and materials R&D leaders are approaching this.
Is your Stage-Gate process accelerating innovation, or slowing it down?
Verdean works with science-led organisations to bridge the gap between technical development and commercial application.
Founder & Managing Director
Dr Stuart Smith is the founder of Verdean Consultancy. With 30+ years of experience in coatings, chemicals, and advanced materials, Stuart brings deep technical expertise combined with commercial acumen to help businesses turn technical challenges into competitive advantage.
Published on October 28, 2026
Sep 14, 2026
How to bridge the gap between promising laboratory results, scalable manufacturing and a commercially successful product.
Oct 6, 2026
Why formulation, substrate, application, curing and environment must be considered together to achieve reliable performance in coating systems.
Sep 29, 2026
Understanding the key differences between projects, programmes and portfolios, and how they connect to deliver strategic business value.