The Oxford dictionary defines value as “the worth of something compared to the price paid or asked for it”. The ISMRM has launched the “MR Value Initiative”, to encourage development of innovative ways to optimize the value of magnetic resonance-based diagnostic technologies. “Value” can be considered to be a ratio between clinical benefit and cost. Increasing the value of MRI-based technologies could allow these amazingly powerful diagnostic tools to be used more widely and proactively for the benefit of patients.

Efforts to maximize the ratio of clinical benefit to cost will inevitably involve the domains of medical evidence, medical governance, and medical economics. However, the exciting proposition for members of the ISMRM is that both the numerator (clinical benefit) and the denominator (cost) of the value ratio can be targeted by scientific and technical innovation.

The main premise underlying this presentation is that, compared to research in other areas of medicine, investigators in medical imaging generate innovations at a high rate, that these inventions are often notable for the fact that they can be readily translated from the laboratory to clinical practice, and that these innovations often have extraordinary impact on patient care.

A study published in Health Affairs more than a decade ago surveyed physicians about 30 major medical innovations of the twentieth century, asking which would be missed most in the care of their patients if they did not exist. The list of innovations included drugs such as statins and third generation antibiotics, interventions such as vascular stenting and hip joint replacement, and various diagnostic testing modalities. The innovations that topped the list for impact were MRI and CT.

The Academy of Radiology Research is an organization supported by the ISMRM which is dedicated to advocacy for increased federal support for imaging research in the US. The Academy has argued that the funding invested in imaging research at the NIH and other federal agencies is actually disproportionally low compared with other areas of medical research when considering impact and return on investment,. In order to substantiate this notion, the academy conducted a study that assessed rate at which NIH-funded research produces patented inventions. It is known that, in addition to their intrinsic value as solutions to problems, patented inventions are a major driver of long term regional economic performance in the US. The study showed that between 2003 and 2012, research funded by the National Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) yielded patented inventions at a rate more than four times higher than the average for all NIH institutes.

What about the impact of these inventions? A standard approach for assessing the quality of patents, used in industry is to assess the number of forward citations. This is the number of times that later patents reference an earlier patent. A highly-cited patent is more likely to have contributed new knowledge and created new fields of opportunity than a patent that is rarely cited. The study by the Academy of Radiology Research found that the average number of citations for inventions created as a result of funding by the NIBIB was approximately twice that of the overall NIH average [1]. These basic conclusions of the Academy study were subsequently confirmed by an independent study published by the Battelle institute in 2015 [2].

These findings lend strong support to the notion that technology-focused research in imaging science is highly productive of in terms of practical innovations and impact. Why is this the case? One explanation might be that scientists in our field often focus their work in what has been called “Pasteur’s Quadrant” [3]. This approach focuses multidisciplinary expertise on “use-inspired” research. The work seeks to advance knowledge, while benefiting society [4].

The remainder of this presentation focuses on identifying time-tested “Pasteur’s Quadrant” strategies that aspiring innovators can use to improve the chances that their work will have an impact and perhaps make the world a better place.