Embrace (incubator)

The Embrace is an extremely low-cost infant incubator designed for use in rural areas as an alternative to the more expensive traditional designs. The prototype was designed in 2008 by a team of business and engineering students at Stanford University.

They designed the incubator in a class called Entrepreneurial Design For Extreme Affordability. [cite web | url = http://extreme.stanford.edu/big_picture/our_class.html | title = Standford Institute of Design | Entrepreneurial Design For Extreme Affordability | accessdate = 2008-09-14 | format = HTML ] The cost of the Embrace incubator is less than one percent of the traditional designs, and rather than isolate the newborn, its design encourages phsyical contact. It operates using hot water to maintain temperature entirely without electricity, making it well-suited to rural areas. [cite web | url = http://sanjose.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2008/04/21/story10.html?b=1208750400^1622061&surround=etf | title = Stanford startup's $25 'sleeping bag' could save newborns | accessdate = 2008-09-14 | date = 2008-04-18 | format = HTML ]

Jane Chen and Rahul Panicker, representing the team at the Echoing Green competition, were awarded the 2008 Echoing Green fellowship. [cite web | url = http://thinkchangeindia.wordpress.com/2008/09/04/extreme-affordability/ | title = ThinkChange India: Extreme Affordability | accessdate = 2008-09-14 | date = 2008-09-04 | format = HTML ] [cite web | url = http://www.echoinggreen.org/fellows/jane-chen-and-rahul-panicker | title = Jane Chen and Rahul Panicker | accessdate = 2008-09-14 | format = HTML ]

The team has set up a non-profit called Embrace and plans to launch the incubator in rural India in 2009.

References

External links

*cite web
url = http://www.embraceglobal.org
title = EmbraceGlobal.org
accessdate = 2008-09-14
format = HTML
*cite web
url = http://designthatmatters.org/news/dtm-blog/2008/01/spring_2007_inc_1.php
title = Spring 2007 Incubator Project Summaries
accessdate = 2008-09-14
date = 2008-01-24
format = HTML