Purpose: The purpose of this article is to evaluate strategic development perspectives of manufacturing metallic-ceramic coatings in the process of physical vapor deposition (PVD) on the CuZn40Pb2 brass substrate. The amount of layers applied to the substrate was adopted as the criterion for technology division, thus obtaining three technology groups for foresight researches.Design/methodology/approach: The carried out foresight-materials science researches included creating a dendrological matrix of technology value, a meteorological matrix of environment influence, a matrix of strategies for technologies, laying out strategic development tracks, carrying out materials science experiments which test the mechanical and tribological properties and the resistance to corrosion and erosion of brass covered with a varied number of layers applied using the method of reactive magnetron evaporation, as well as preparing technology roadmaps.Findings: High potential and attractiveness were shown of the analyzed technologies against the environment, as well as a promising improvement of mechanical and tribological properties and an increase of resistance to material corrosion and erosion as a result of covering with PVD coatings.Research limitations/implications: Researches pertaining to covering the brass substrate with PVD coatings is part of a bigger research project aimed at selecting, researching and characterizing priority innovative material surface engineering technologies.Practical implications: The presented results of experimental materials science researches prove the significant positive impact of covering with PVD coatings on the structure and mechanical properties, as well as the resistance to corrosion, erosion and abrasive wear of brass which leads to the justification of their including into the set of priority innovative technologies recommended for application in industrial practice, including in small and medium-size companies.Originality/value: The advantage of the article is the specification of the significance of the technology involving covering the brass substrate with mono- and multilayer PVD coatings against the environment, together with the recommended strategies of conduct, strategic development tracks and roadmaps of these technologies, taking into account the impact of the processes of applying these coatings onto the structure and the improvement of the properties of the tested surface layers.