The Open Source Imaging Initiative (OSI²) represents a new approach to the development of medical imaging devices, aiming to make the health-care benefits of modern instruments accessible to many more people around the globe. The project will pool the knowledge and experience of many experts in open-source designs for Magnetic Resonance Imaging devices (MRI) which can be built and maintained for a fraction of the price of current instruments.

Medical imaging is crucial to both the diagnosis and treatment of most diseases and progress in understanding their causes. MRI is currently the most powerful diagnostic imaging tool in medicine because it provides a detailed view of internal tissues without invasive procedures or damage to the body.

Globally, MRI is a scarce commodity – its cost and complexity restrict its availability mostly to industrialized countries and larger hospitals. We aim to develop an MR scanner that is affordable to build, operate, maintain and repair by providing full, freely available technical documentation that follows the standards of open-source hardware. In combination, innovation and the open-source philosophy have the potential to dramatically lower costs and take health care “From the community, to the community.”