Why Bill Gates Cares About Refrigerators

On July 28, CBS aired a 60 Minutes special on Bill Gates, the Gates Foundation, and Bill Gates’ goal to eradicate preventable diseases.

The entire video is interesting, but around the 3:30 mark, Bill Gates talks to host Charlie Rose about the issue of keeping vaccines cold in third world countries, where electricity and proper refrigeration are not easily found.   When a vaccine becomes too warm or too cool, it loses its potency and effectiveness (we will post on this topic soon). To solve the problem of vaccine storage, Gates turned to Intellectual Ventures, one of top 5 owners of U.S. Patents, and a force in the invention marketplace. Gates asked them to create a vessel to carry vaccines, but one that doesn’t need electricity to keep it’s contents cool.

Meet Intellectual Adventures’ Passive Vaccine Storage Device, an incredible development for hard-to-reach areas of the world, and a remarkable invention in cold chain management:

The cooler keeps vaccines cold for up to 50 days.

For us data monitoring experts, we applaud Gates’ initiative, and are amazed at the things humans can invent.

For more information on the Gates Foundation, go to http://www.gatesfoundation.org.

For more information on Intellectual Ventures, go to www.intellectualventures.com.