20million premature babies are born around the world every year. Fourmillion of them die eventually. The ones who do survive grow up withserious health problems. However, these problems could be preventedif these babies were just kept warm.

Thatis the primary function of an incubator. But traditional incubatorsrequire electricity and cost up to 20 thousand US dollars. It’snot easy to find them in rural areas of developing countries. JaneChen and her team realize what is needed is a solution that costslittle and works without electricity. Besides, it should be simpleenough for a mother or a midwife to use, since the majority of birthsstill take place in the homes of developing countries.

JaneChen’s team came up with a design that looks like a small sleepingbag for a baby. There is a pouch of wax in the little back pocketwhich contains a substance with a melting point of 37℃. Once it ismelted simply by using hot water, its temperature can maintain forfour to six hours and create a warm micro-environment for the baby.

Chenplans to launch this product in India in 2012. And the target pricewill be 25 dollars, less than 0.1 percent of the cost of atraditional incubator. She hopes that innovations like thisrepresent a new trend for the future of technology: simple,localized, affordable solutions that have the potential to make hugesocial impact. She believes her invention can save millions of lives,through the simple warmth of an embrace.