Boast.AI, the fast-growth FinTech platform that helps companies identify, claim and finance R&D tax credits and government incentives, today announced key findings from its custom research into the innovation management practices of founders, CEOs, CTOs, and CFOs.

According to Forrester, companies that lead in innovation grow 260% faster than companies that do not. Boast.AI's new research reveals that 85 percent of business leaders say investing in innovation is very important or extremely important, yet 65 percent lack expertise to track it, or use old-school, manual processes to link R&D and innovation costs to ROI. Despite innovation's importance to leaders, only 60 percent track it.

Over 550 business leaders participated in the research, sharing their views which are summarized in Boast.AI's new report, Making Innovation Easier and Faster. One respondent commented, "Our business needs to move innovation from R&D over to commercialization much faster than it currently does; the best means to do that is to accelerate innovation."

The report also reveals:

1. Organizations spend up to 30% of their time deciding and prioritizing innovation—which is a massive burden on the company and takes development, research, and execution cycles away from teams.

2. Companies rely on product usage data, engineering development data, and task management data to help decide and track the innovation process.

3. Firms are seeking ways to innovate faster and create a clearer line of ownership and reporting from initial innovation investment all the way to ROI.

4. Having greater intelligence and management over the innovation process is important, but ultimately respondents want to accelerate the innovation process the most.

5. Innovation efforts are being driven by a desire for a better competitive advantage, better strategic decision making, and better differentiation.

NOTE: The details for each of these summaries, and more, are available in the report.

Respondents suggest improvements to the process of innovation management, and how to empower more employees to innovate, and create stronger linkage between spending and the outcome of that spending. They rank the least efficient part of the innovation management process and rank their company's culture for R&D.

"Innovation is the lifeblood of a business's ability to grow faster, create a competitive advantage and differentiate, and it's the primary reason any company invests in R&D. This research reveals that businesses highly value innovation but need to focus on ways to improve managing their R&D decisions and linking to ROI," said Alex Popa, Boast.AI CEO and co-founder. "Each year the U.S. and Canadian governments combined provide more than $20 billion in R&D credits to fund innovation. We fulfill our mission anytime we help a company collect eligible government tax incentives and use those funds to re-invest in innovation."

• Attend Boast.AI's September 15, 2021, webinar to learn more.
• Get a copy of the full 10-page report: Making Innovation Easier and Faster.