YOUR WEEKLY FIX OF ENTREPRENEURIAL IDEAS
27-02 April 2014
Top 10 business ideas & opportunities for 2014
We’ve selected 15 new business ideas that will provide
entrepreneurs with plenty of inspiration. Spotted from
countries all around the world, these ideas offer a taste of
what’s to come.
YOUR WEEKLY FIX OF ENTREPRENEURIAL IDEAS
27-02 April 2014
The importance of our smartphones has
led to charging points being installed in a
number of outdoor places, from parasols
to handbags. Now a Netherlands-based
fashion designer has created Wearable
Solar, a range of high-end garments that
feature solar panels, enabling wearers to
charge a mobile device.
Read more about Wearable Solar »
1. High-end fashion items collect and store solar energy
In big cities, congested roads mean that
public transport is the predominant mode
of travel and if residents need to take a
car, it’s usually a taxi. The Netherlands’
Hopper has already explored the
possibility of eco taxi travel with its one-
person electric scooters, and now
Mellowcabs is enabling South African
citizens to travel for free in its electric
cycle cabs that are funded by advertising.
Read more about Mellowcabs »
2. In South Africa, free-to-use electric cycle taxis are paid for by ads
For event organizers and promoters,
collecting an email address and a name
from each ticket buyer is good for future
marketing, but not for really getting to
know the community of people that are
engaged by their shows and events.
Aiming to put a face to the names of
customers, the Selfie Ticket provides a
more personal and fun way to create a
unique admission ticket.
Read more about the Selfie Ticket »
3. ‘Selfie Ticket’ puts a face to event attendees’ names
The crowd can make or break a concert
— if they’re not having a good time then
the entire event can fall flat, and the best
performers can adjust their sets by
reading the audience’s reaction. A piece of
wearable tech called Lightwave now
hopes to make this process easier, by
delivering crowd engagement data to DJs
in real time.
Read more about Lightwave »
4. Smart wristband tells DJs if the audience is enjoying the show
Drones have recently been touted as an
option for businesses to more quickly
deliver products to consumers without
having to send out a human driver, but the
speed of the flying robots could have wide
implications for healthcare. We’ve already
seen Germany’s Defikopter project
explore the possibility of getting
defibrillators to heart attack victims before
the paramedics even arrive, and now San
Francisco’s QuiQui is set to offer 24/7
delivery of pills and prescriptions via
drone.
Read more about QuiQui »
5. In SF, pharmacy goods will be delivered in 15 mins via drone
Regular readers of Springwise may
remember Unbox Love, the subscription
service that helps busy couples revive
their relationships with date ideas in a
box. For those whose relationships are
beyond repair, Japan’s Shitsuren Box —
which translates as Break Up Box — aims
to soothe recipients’ broken hearts while
also supporting pregnant women in
developing countries.
Read more about Shitsuren BOX »
6. Break Up Box cures broken hearts while helping couples in
needunit
Plagiarism is a major concern for colleges
today, meaning when it comes to writing a
thesis or essay, college students can often
spend an inordinate amount of time
ensuring their bibliographies are up to
scratch, to the detriment of the quality of
the actual writing. In the past, services
such as ReadCube have made it easier to
annotate and search online articles, and
now Citelighter automatically generates a
citation for any web resource, along with a
number of tools to help students organize
their research.
Read more about Citelighter »
7. Broswer extension automates academic citations of online
material
This is part of a series of articles that looks at
entrepreneurs hoping to get their ideas off the
ground through crowdfunding. At the time of writing,
each of these innovations is currently seeking
funding.
Wearable tech has for the most part been
focused on fitness tracking, but that’s not
the only way we can keep our bodies and
minds healthy. Currently seeking funding
on Indiegogo, Sunsprite is a clip-on
sensor that detects if wearers are getting
enough sunlight.
Read more about Guilty Pledgers »
8. Wearable device tells you when you need more sunlight
While wearable tech can often offer great
practical uses, consumers won’t go for it if
they think it looks silly — take the
backlash against Google Glass, for
example. Taking this into consideration,
Cuff is a new collection of stylish jewelry
products that come with a discreet and
detachable Bluetooth module that, when
pressed, lets friends and family know if
wearers are in trouble.
Read more about Moff »
9. Customizable jewelry range features a smart rape alarm
Weird Of The Week: This is part of a series of
articles that looks at some of the most bizarre and
niche business ideas we see here at Springwise.
Eating is about more than just the taste of
the food in our mouths, and the
experience can be enhanced or tainted by
a whole range of factors, from
atmosphere and ambience to dining
partner. NY-based artist Emilie Blatz has
now created Lickestra to take advantage
of just that, demonstrating ice cream that
acts as a musical instrument when it’s
licked.
Read more about Lickestra »
10. Ice cream offers a musical accompaniment with each lick
The fashion industry has come under fire
for its increasing use of ultra-thin models,
which promote false ideals and don’t
represent the body shape of the majority
of consumers. In the past we’ve seen
China’s Vancl Star app enable its own
customers to model their clothes, and now
London-based Anti-Agency is offering a
roster of unusual, creative and punky
models to give fashion campaigns a more
‘real’ edge.
Read more about Anti-Agency »
11. A fashion agency for alternative models
Caller ID has made it easier for both
businesses and consumers to make a
decision before they pick up the phone
since its implementation in the telecoms
world, and we’ve even seen apps such as
SayWhat provide subject lines for
incoming calls. With today’s smartphones,
the urge to check every notification is now
one of the biggest timekillers, and new
Android app called Mumble uses custom
alerts to give more information about the
type of text message they’ve received
before they look at their device.
Read more about Mumble »
12. Custom SMS notifications help users decide if they should
bother checking their phone
Nobody enjoys waiting in a queue, even if
it’s for something they really want. Apps
such as Qminder have provided a way for
businesses to avoid crowded waiting
rooms or long lines of customers by
providing them with smartphone
notifications when their appointment or
reservation is ready, and now another app
called Shout wants to turn queues into a
marketplace, where users can buy and
sell spots in line for new games consoles
or a table at no-reservation restaurants.
Read more about Shout »
13. App lets users barter to jump queues
Dating isn’t the easiest thing in the world,
and it’s made more difficult when there’s a
gender imbalance in the city. In New York
City, there are 100,000 more women of
dating age, and in San Francisco, there
are 40,000 more men than women. To
solve this problem, matchmaking service
The Dating Ring is helping the two
groups out by flying single New York
women across the country for long
distance dating.
Read more about The Dating Ring »
14. Group dating service connects New Yorkers with San Franciscans
Finding out information about a stylish
garment found in a photo or spotted on
the street can sometimes be a pain, and
while visual search — as used by apps
like Snap Fashion — is getting better, it’s
not always accurate. ASAP54 is an app
that taps both the masses and fashion
experts for clothing identification and
personalized recommendations.
Read more about ASAP54 »
15. Social fashion app crowdsources clothing ID and
recommendations
What is Springwise?
Springwise scans the globe for the most promising, unique and innovative business
ventures, ideas and concepts that are ready for regional or international adaptation,
expansion, partnering, investments or cooperation.
Springwise headquarters is in close contact with more than 17,000 Springspotters in over
150 countries worldwide, who provide us with details of the latest innovations in their
countries. These are compiled and assessed by our editorial team, and the best examples
are published to provide entrepreneurial inspiration to our readers around the world!
Springwise publishes a Daily and a Weekly newsletter, to which you can subscribe
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Established in 2002, Springwise is headquartered in London, United Kingdom.
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