AFIRM in Witney has been hailed as one of the best British innovators as it makes the finals for a top engineering award.
Siemens Magnet Technology (SMT) has been named a finalist in the MacRobert Award by the Royal Academy of Engineering.
The company has developed a 7 Tesla (7T) magnet that will enable more people across the world to access high resolution MRI scanning, which has the potential to provide earlier diagnoses for neurological conditions such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Multiple Sclerosis
Most scanners operate at 1.5 to 3.0 Tesla.
SMT, which employs 420 people at its Oxfordshire site, was able to achieve this step in MRI capability by starting from scratch rather than making improvements to existing technologies.
MacRobert award judge, Professor David Delpy said: "The Siemens team made a radical change from conventional wisdom in the development of the 7T and have achieved a step change in the manufacturability, reliability, performance and cost of MRI magnets, confirming their role as the world's leader in this field.
"The result is a technology with the potential to save millions of lives through improved diagnostics and research techniques."
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