Open-access: Participation in caBIG^® and the products delivered by caBIG^® are open to all, enabling access to tools, data, and infrastructure by the cancer and greater biomedical research communities.

Open-development: Software development projects are assigned to particular participants, but are informed iteratively with multiple opportunities for review, comment, further modification, and development by the caBIG^® community.

Open-source: The software code underlying caBIG^® tools developed with the support of the NCI is available to software developers for use and modification. This software is licensed as open source to promote the reuse of existing code, hence optimizing the full benefit of the research dollars spent. Nonetheless, caBIG^® recognizes the need for and importance of commercial software to the biomedical enterprise, and accommodates it through caBIG^® interfaces. The open source license is industry-friendly, allowing commercialization of derivative products and fostering industry interest and innovation, while still adhering to the principle of open source for caBIG^®-funded activities.

Federation: caBIG^® software and standards enable local organizations, such as Cancer Centers, to share data resources with the larger cancer care and research community and to use resources contributed by others. On the grid, these resources can be aggregated from multiple sites to appear as an integrated research dataset, while the individual resources remain under the control of the local organizations.