On Apr. 12, 2005, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) announced the creation of the cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid (caBIG). The program brought together open source, open access tools, applications, data and standards developed by the caBIG community to accelerate cancer research, prevention and care.

caBIG provides the foundational infrastructure and specific applications to create a World Wide Web of cancer research. Over 800 individuals from NCI-designated Cancer Centers and other organizations (more than 80 organizations in all) are participating.

The three year pilot phase of caBIG ended in 2007, and had engaged over 900 clinicians, scientists, and patient advocates as developers, adopters, and workspace participants. Progress was demonstrated in creating tools and building prototype grid architecture for collaborative research. Accomplishments in the pilot phase set the stage for extension of the community into other biomedical domains and for federation of the caBIG enterprise with similar initiatives in other scientific areas and in other countries.