Applying Stage-Gate Processes to Technology Development - Experience from Six Hardware-oriented Companies

Preprint, 2011

The stage-gate model has been proposed for the so called “fuzzy front end” of innovation and technology development. Reports on industrial experience from such implementations are quite limited, however. This led us to explore in six companies what adaptations have been made to facilitate the model's usefulness for technology development and the companies' experiences from their practical application of the model. Our results indicate that aspects proven important for the operational success, or failure, of the model include the level of adaption to the characteristics of technology development and a more flexible use than that normally found in product development.