Boast has observed that while CxOs prioritized the essentials in 2024, they missed out on non-dilutive funding opportunities, turning to working capital and credit in response to inflation, talent shortages, and economic uncertainty.
VANCOUVER, CANADA, October 24, 2024 – Boast, North America’s leading provider of R&D and tax credit intelligence, has released the 2024 edition of its annual R&D Benchmark Report. The findings show that companies paid a price for putting dedicated R&D on hold amid last year’s market uncertainty.
The 2024 R&D Benchmark Report draws on a survey of over 500 CXOs from R&D-driven organizations across North America, providing a snapshot of how businesses are financing innovation and product development. The results reveal that many executives have been laser-focused on the essentials in 2024—especially in the face of inflation—forcing teams to rethink their strategies and leaving little room in the budget for risk-taking. As a result, many missed out on growth opportunities, including non-dilutive funding through tax credits.
For many teams, this meant taking a more cautious approach to R&D in 2024, with fewer resources allocated directly to R&D and fewer companies tapping into non-dilutive capital sources like grants and tax credits. Working capital remained the primary funding source year over year, but debit/credit lines have become the second most common option among CXO respondents—with 42% of respondents using debit/credit in 2024, up from just 38% in 2023.
This trend is also reflected in the decline of non-dilutive funding sources like Tax Credits and especially Grants, which saw the largest year-over-year drops. Tax Credits fell from 39% (#2) of funding sources in 2023 to 36% (#3), while Grants dropped from 32% (#5) to just 27% (#5) in 2024.
“Overall, while many CXOs still allocated budget to R&D in 2024, they weren’t pursuing as many activities that qualify for grants or tax credits—and they’re likely paying the price for this conservative approach in the long run,” says Boast CEO Imad Jebara. “Delaying new R&D may seem like a ‘penny-wise’ approach to ride out market fluctuations, but pausing or scaling back R&D actually shuts teams out of government funding opportunities that could be crucial for extending their product and innovation timelines.”
Similarly, CXOs were much more focused on forecasting and talent retention in 2024 compared to 2023. While inflation is likely a factor, concerns about lending and interest rates—as well as venture capital and private equity trends over the past year—are also fueling this cautious mindset among the CXOs surveyed.
Interestingly, the answer to many of these challenges may actually be to double down on R&D investment and funding.
Not only can eligible, truly innovative activities unlock new sources of capital to extend your operational runway (while also powering better products), but using tools that align key data sources and deliver instant, actionable insights can help teams work smarter without stretching resources.
Explore Boast’s insights in our 2024 R&D Benchmark Report EBook or dive into the full findings in our 2024 R&D Benchmark Report Results document.
