Imaging has been one of the success stories of 20th century medicine but is now under pressure from tight health-care budgets and from professional competition. The 21st century will need a very different type of radiologist, one trained not just in imaging but also in more basic disciplines and in informatics. Research in radiology will need more attention than hitherto, and the imager of tomorrow will have to defend his or her specialty against the charge of "expensive high technology" and adapt, by taking a more market-oriented approach to the added value that the specialty provides.