# Why R&D Waste Persists Despite Widespread AI Adoption

> Source: <https://content.knowledgehub.wiley.com/the-2026-rd-benchmark-report-waste-ai-and-the-race-to-market/>
> Published: 2026-08-04 14:51:55+00:00

This report examines R&D waste and how AI adoption has outpaced the intelligence needed to make consequential decisions well.

What Attendees will Learn

- Where R&D budget is lost. More than a third of organizations spend 25 to 40 percent of their R&D budget on projects that never reach market.
- Why projects fail late. Almost half of teams estimate over one million dollars in wasted investment for each project killed during development or testing.
- Why AI adoption has not closed the gap. Most organizations apply AI to execution tasks such as data analysis and modeling rather than to decision support.
- Where intelligence matters most. Respondents say better access to intelligence has the greatest value at early ideation and feasibility before significant investment is committed.