Open Arsenal

Mapping MIT Innovation, Transparently.

MIT Horizon is an open-source research intelligence platform created to bring transparency and public insight to the flow of innovation at MIT. The project is designed to track research projects, grants, patents, publications, startups, and corporate partnerships in one searchable system. By connecting funding sources to research outputs and ownership outcomes, MIT Horizon helps users understand how ideas move from the laboratory into the wider world.

One of the platform’s most important features is its ability to classify outcomes as open source, privately licensed, or hybrid access. This allows researchers, journalists, students, and the public to see which innovations were released openly and which entered corporate holdings. The system also tracks grants from public agencies, private sponsors, and institutional funding, making it easier to visualize how research is financed and how those investments translate into real-world technologies.

MIT Horizon includes dashboards and data tools that turn complex records into clear visual insights. Users can explore funding trends over time, compare departments, map relationships between researchers and sponsors, and examine the lifecycle of patents or publications. Search filters allow discovery by topic, year, department, sponsor, or ownership type, while downloadable exports and APIs support independent analysis.

The platform also includes accountability and ethics features such as public benefit scoring, conflict-of-interest mapping, and flags for controversial sectors like surveillance or weapons research when based on public data. With a fully open-source AGPL 3.0+ license on GitLab, MIT Horizon is built to grow through community contributions and serve as a model for transparent research tracking at universities worldwide.