A molecular biologist says “yes” and designs the world’s first artificial womb facility.

Hashem Al-Ghaili, a known Germany-based producer, filmmaker, science communicator and molecular biologist, has designed a concept of growing children in labs. His first artificial womb facility in the world, called EctoLife, would incubate up to 30,000 children a year, should he succeed in removing one big “if”.

The futurist scientist basically offers childless couples, families and individuals alike to conceive and grow babies in artificial wombs – not for free, of course – which would be located in a giant multi-lab facility. An elite package service would let future parents choose their “offspring” the level of intelligence, height, hair, eye color, physical strength, and skin tone.

The EctoLife concept is based on over fifty years of groundbreaking research by scientists around the globe, Al-Ghaili says on his blog. 

The facility would run on renewable energy and host 75 lab units, each with maximum 400 growth pods or artificial wombs.

Each pod would provide an environment similar to the conditions in a human female womb, the plan goes on.

EctoLife would allow clients to monitor the growth and development of their babies through a pod screen displaying real-time data and via a mobile application on their smartphones.

The author believes that his project can bring about solutions to cancer patients who've had their uteruses removed, to women who suffer from pregnancy complications, to couples where partners are unable to conceive naturally. He also sees it as a method to stop the population declines in developed countries.

The technology is ready and the facility could be delivered in less than a decade.

"Every single feature mentioned in the concept is 100 per cent science-based and has already been achieved by scientists and engineers… […] It can become a reality in 10 years or so," he says.

There’s one problem, however. There are ethical restrictions in the way. Most countries in the world have banned the manipulations with the human genome. Research on human embryos is not allowed beyond 14 days and after the two-week work they must be destroyed.

Aside from government regulations, there are also an urge to educate people to be more indulgent if not positive to the technology, the author stated.

While in his videos the project seems to look like a scene from the “Matrix” (for good purposes), there are fears that it could turn into a nightmare shown best in the 2005 dystopian movie “The Island”, where clones of real people were grown as replacements of flesh, organs, and bodies for rich clients.