Using distillation module in open-source software

[hermancollin]

Hello and thank you for this great Fast-nnUNet project.

I am a PhD student in a lab where we develop open source softwares (i.e. axondeepseg, spinalcordtoolbox). A few years ago we started packaging nnunetv2 models for segmentation tasks, but inference speed is always a concern for us, as most of our users don't have GPUs.

This is why your project is of great interest to us. I understand Fast-nnUNet is partially patent-protected. Is it possible to use your distillation module and distribute the lighter models in open-source softwares without commiting patent infringement?

[77even]

Hello, Herman. I just took a look at your project—it’s great. The distillation module in fast-nnUNet is open-source and intended to support non-commercial research. I’m glad that fast-nnUNet can be of use to related open-source projects in the community. All you need to do is cite nnUNet in your project and note that the lightweight models in your branch are derived from fast-nnUNet. I hope this helps.