Created by graduate James Roberts, the MOM incubator has been designed with the hope of helping families in the developing world.
Roberts got the idea for the inexpensive, inflatable invention after watching a documentary about Syrian refugees during his final year of college.
“They had a segment about how there are loads of premature kids dying because of the stresses of war and specifically the lack of incubators out there and the infrastructure to support them,” he said.
“I thought, there has to be a way to solve that,” he added.
The invention, which is designed to be delivered in flatpack form, operates upon transparent panels that can be blown up and are then heated by a ceramic element.
Roberts has estimated that his prototype would cost £250 to manufacture but would offer a similar level of performance as a modern hospital’s version.
Having received £30,000 worth of prize money for scooping the award, Roberts has said that he intends to use the money to further develop the product, and hopefully have it on the market by 2017.
