92% of Engineering Teams See Measurable Value From AI, SimScale Poll Finds

The findings build on an earlier survey of 350 engineering leaders at organizations with at least 1,000 employees. Conducted earlier this year, that survey found that 99% of respondents expected tangible returns on investment from AI projects within 12 months.

When asked which key performance indicator (KPI) mattered most when measuring AI’s value, just 5% selected cost reduction. Instead, 31% prioritized engineering hours saved, 22% cited improved product design or performance, and 17% identified faster time to market.

The results point to a growing emphasis on using AI to expand design exploration, identify new solutions, and improve competitiveness. The earlier survey also found that 14% of engineering companies with more than 10,000 employees were testing more than 200 design variants.

The poll was conducted at SimScale’s Agentic Unlocks event, where hundreds of engineers joined speakers from technology companies including Nvidia, Siemens, Capgemini, and Onshape by PTC, along with practitioners from Dexory, Convion (HD Hyundai), Dolphin Group, and Thornton Tomasetti. Discussions focused on strategies for adopting agentic engineering and physics AI.

During a discussion on physics and agentic AI, Padmanabh Nimbhorkar, group chief strategy officer at Dolphin Global Holdings, said, “If the same team can handle more RFQs, respond faster, preserve knowledge and improve consistency, the benefit is not only efficiency, it creates room for innovation and growth … AI becomes more than a productivity tool. It becomes a growth platform.”

The poll also found that more than one-third of respondents believed their organizations were on track with AI adoption, while 9% said they were ahead of expectations. An earlier survey found that all surveyed engineering firms were planning for broader AI adoption.

Despite that momentum, some organizations have yet to begin AI projects. While a 2025 survey found that 14% of engineering leaders did not consider AI a priority, all respondents in the 2026 survey said it was a priority. However, 34% of poll respondents said their organizations had not started AI projects, and 20% said they were behind where they expected to be.

SimScale co-founder and CEO David Heiny said engineering teams are moving beyond pilot projects and expanding AI adoption across workflows and product lines. Early results include faster simulations, more design variants, and quicker responses to requests for quotations (RFQs). “The race is on,” Heiny said, pointing to the competitive advantage of teams that use AI to accelerate engineering and improve design decisions.

During a discussion on scaling AI projects, Matthieu Lebas, global head of AI engineering services at Capgemini, said, “Our conviction is that the winning companies in the future – and that’s tomorrow, not in 10 years – will be the ones that are embedding AI at scale today. Not just to save costs, but to accelerate development cycles, enrich product features, and release better products faster.”