R&D Waste Persists Despite Broad AI Adoption, New Benchmark Report Finds

A new 2026 R&D Benchmark Report, presented by IEEE Spectrum and Wiley and sponsored by Patsnap, reveals that despite accelerating AI adoption, many organizations still lose significant R&D budget on projects that never reach commercialization. The report is based on a survey of more than 200 senior R&D professionals across North America, the UK, and Europe, covering nine industries. Key findings include that more than one-third of organizations spend 25–40% of their R&D budget on projects that never reach the market, and nearly half of respondents estimate losing more than $1 million each time a late-stage project is canceled. While AI adoption has surged, most organizations still use it primarily for execution rather than for the strategic decisions that determine which projects deserve investment. The report also emphasizes that earlier access to competitive, market, and patent intelligence delivers the greatest impact during ideation and feasibility, before significant resources are committed. Patsnap, founded in Singapore in 2007, is a global innovation intelligence company whose AI agents and analytics tools are trusted by over 15,000 enterprises, law firms, and research institutions.