This question is a bit too broad to get the answers you may want.
Here’s what I think we need to know to give the best answers:
What general industry are you working in?
How ‘bleeding edge’ is the research?
Are you really pushing the envelope with new untested ideas, or just innovating incrementally around market-tested concepts?
Is the R&D for a totally new company or is it occurring within an established company?
What expenses are absolutely required, including labor, capital and operational costs? Do you need just a pen and paper and someone to use them? Or do you need a multi-billion semiconductor fab?
This question is a bit too broad to get the answers you may want.
Here’s what I think we need to know to give the best answers: