London, 24th November 2025 – According to new data from Corpora.ai, the world’s first AI-powered scientific frontier research platform, UK researchers and R&D teams could collectively reclaim an estimated 600 million working hours per year, possibly generating between £11 and £20 billion of economic value by using AI-powered tools to accelerate prior-art and freedom-to-operate (FTO) searches. [1][2]
A new survey of 500 UK professors, analysts and corporate researchers shows that AI-assisted research saves the average respondent an estimated four hours per week – equivalent to over five additional working weeks per year per researcher. Applied to intellectual property checks alone, this translates into a potential national productivity dividend running into the millions of hours, potentially freeing resources for innovation, deeper analysis and teaching.
Mel Morris CBE, Co-Founder and CEO of Corpora.ai, said: “Prior art patent searches are one of the most time-intensive and costly stages in the innovation process. Our data shows that AI can release millions of hours that could be reinvested in discovery and commercialisation. This is not just about efficiency; it’s about accelerating the UK’s ability to turn ideas into intellectual property and economic growth.”
A productivity boost with national implications
The average innovation-to-commercialisation cycle is 7-12 years, with over 80% of initiatives failing before market entry, often resulting in a total write-off. Prior-art and FTO checks are an essential but time-intensive precursor to delivering innovation across sectors as diverse as life sciences, materials engineering, energy and aerospace. These searches can take weeks of manual review across global patent databases and academic literature – a process so slow and expensive it’s described as the “hidden IP tax” on innovation.
Keith Cook, CEO of UCR Group, who have partnered with Corpora.ai to accelerate their deep research, said: “The most exciting breakthroughs often stall not because of a lack of ideas, but because of the time and cost of proving those ideas are genuinely new. Prior art and freedom-to-operate checks are vital, but they can consume weeks of effort for every promising line of research. By cutting that process down to days or even hours, AI gives scientists and R&D teams the freedom to move faster, take more risks, and bring innovations to market sooner. The implications are enormous – from bioscience to clean tech, the UK’s ability to commercialise discovery is directly linked to how efficiently we can navigate the intellectual property landscape.”
The survey found that 96% of UK researchers surveyed believe AI could be important[3] in reducing this burden, highlighting broad recognition that smarter automation can accelerate the journey from idea to intellectual property. If realised at scale, this efficiency gain could help close the UK’s innovation-productivity gap and support progress towards the Government’s ambition to raise R&D spending to 2.4% of GDP.
Trust: the final barrier to full adoption
Despite the clear efficiency gains, trust remains the final barrier to widespread adoption. The survey found that the majority of researchers verify their outputs when reviewing literature (84%), performing prior art searches or patient checks (83%) and data analysis (93%).[4] What’s more, half (50%) cite accuracy as a major concern. For many, transparency of sources is non-negotiable: 94% said clear citations are important[5] for professional research workflows.
As AI-assisted research moves from pilot projects to daily practice, the opportunity for the UK is clear: shorten the path from discovery to delivery, reduce the cost of protecting innovation, and reclaim millions of hours for the next generation of breakthroughs.
Footnote:
[1] “600- million working hours per year” calculated by taking the average amount of hours per week saved by using AI and applying that to the 2.8 million people in R&D occupations in the UK according to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
[1] “between £11 and £20 billion of economic value” calculated by taking the average pay rate of £21.28 per hour and multiplying that by the amount of hours saved in a year calculated previously.[1] “Very important” and “Somewhat important” combined
[1] “Always”, “Often” and “Sometimes” answers combined
[1] “Very important” and “Somewhat important” combined
—
Research methodology
The research was conducted by Censuswide, among a sample of 500 professors, researchers, analysts who use AI tools in their research activities. The data was collected between 03.10.2025 – 09.10.2025. Censuswide abides by and employs members of the Market Research Society and follows the MRS code of conduct and ESOMAR principles. Censuswide is also a member of the British Polling Council.
About Corpora.ai – The World’s First Scientific Frontier Research Platform
Corpora.ai is the world’s first Scientific Frontier Research Platform, fusing the largest evolving graph of open-source intelligence with advanced reasoning AI. It delivers ultrafast, fully attributable insights in milliseconds, unlocking unprecedented exploration, correlation, and discovery across every domain of human knowledge.
By reimagining how intelligence is gathered, normalised, and delivered, Corpora.ai empowers scientists, researchers, analysts, and innovators to accelerate discovery, drive innovation, and achieve research breakthroughs on a global scale.