YOUR WEEKLY FIX OF ENTREPRENEURIAL IDEAS

13-19 March 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

13-19 March 2014

3D printing has has already set alight a

huge community of entrepreneurs who

have used the technology to create print-

on-demand medical supplies and even

food, and the technology is constantly

improving, whether its the printing process

itself or the material that can be used. A

new kind of elastic filament called Filaflex

is enabling more complex designs such as

the Sneakerbot II 3D-printed shoes.

Read more about Sneakerbot II »

1. Flexible filament makes 3D-printed sneakers a possibility

Consumers’ entertainment libraries are no

longer stacks of vinyl, shelves of books or

even collections of DVDs, as more

content becomes streamed through the

web. While we’ve seen creators embrace

digital — British band Metronomy recently

released a single only to fans pointing

their smartphones at the star sign

Aquarius, for example — others still

yearn for the physical aspect of the music,

film and books that define them. Enter

Qleek, a system of crafted wooden blocks

that play digital content when placed onto

a special reader.

Read more about Qleek »

2. Smart wooden blocks add a physical element to digital interactions

Even though the lightbulb was invented in

the 19th century, a combination of poverty

and lack of electricity infrastructure means

that two billion people still live in complete

darkness when night falls. Many rely on

non-renewable and dangerous paraffin

fuel to light their communities, which is

why we’ve seen a number of initiatives

that hope to bring sustainable and safer

options to developing nations, even

including lamps powered by gravity. Our

latest spotting is The Lightie, a system

that uses an empty bottle and a solar

filament to provide cheap light in the

places that need it most.

Read more about The Lightie »

3. This Coke bottle lightbulb could help illuminate Africa

When it comes to giving money to

members of a city’s homeless community,

many people worry that their change isn’t

going to fund essentials such as food or

shelter. While startups such as TaskTurtle

have already attempted to tackle the

problem by offering sustenance in

exchange for work, San Francisco’s

HandUp is now using business cards to

let citizens donate food credits to people

in need through their mobiles.

Read more about HandUp »

4. ‘Business cards’ for homeless people let anyone donate with

their phone

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.

Not everyone enjoys having bees in their

back garden, but the insects’ pollination is

vital to the global ecosystem and there

has been a dramatic decrease in their

number past few decades. Companies

such as Bee Landing have in the past

created handcrafted hives to encourage

more homeowners to help the creatures

thrive. Now the Open Source Beehives

project, currently seeking funding on

Indiegogo, has developed a downloadable

and printable beehive that can be

equipped with smart tech to help

crowdsource data about the insects living

inside. Read more about Beehives

»

5. This printable smart hive could save bees from dying out

Nowadays, there is a plethora of

information out there to help consumers

make the right choices before buying, but

it’s not always easy for them to access. In

the past, we’ve seen platforms such as

Buycott help users learn which brands

share their values, and now a similar app

called Think Dirty is aiming to show

consumers whether the cosmetic products

they use could be harmful to their health.

Read more about Think Dirty »

6. App lets consumers find out if their cosmetics contain toxic

chemicals

Regular readers of Springwise may

remember the BioAid, a system

developed by the UK’s University of Essex

that turns an iPhone into a makeshift

hearing aid. Now Danish tech company

ReSound has launched its ReSound

LiNX, a high-end hearing aid that has

been developed to be 100% compatible

with Apple devices, offering a number of

extra functionalities.

Read more about ReSound LiNX »

7. Made-for-iPhone hearing aid offers smart extras

Anyone who’s ever ordered clothes online

knows that getting an item that fits is by all

means hit and miss. Brands such as

Stantt and Threadmason have in recent

times introduced up to 50 different size

options to cater for the varying shapes of

the human body, and now Fitbay is an

online fashion discovery service that

promises to only show users items that fit

their body.

Read more about Fitbay »

8. Personalized fashion store hides clothes that won’t fit

Searching for a holiday can often involve

endless checking of multiple websites to

find the best deals, as well as a mass of

research to discover the best places to

go. Even then it’s not guaranteed that

travelers will end up catching the lowest

prices or picking a location that truly

matches their interests. Aiming to make

holiday booking a less painful experience,

Hitlist is a social app that offers up

destination ideas based on users’

interests, as well the optimal time to go

according to flight fares.

Read more about Hitlist »

9. This app will decide where users go on holiday

Baby monitors have been around in some

form or other since the early 20th century,

and are now becoming smarter than ever

thanks to new tech — take the Owlet,

which monitors the baby’s breathing and

heart rate, for example. However, for

those who can’t afford the latest devices,

Dormi is an Android app that enables

anyone to turn an old smartphone into

baby monitor, delivering notifications

straight to parents’ working mobiles.

Read more about Dormi »

10. Platform turns an old Android device into a baby monitor

The offline world is gradually becoming

connected with the web, and we’ve

already seen apps such as Grafetee let

users ‘bookmark’ physical locations.

Created by Flickr co-founder Caterina

Fake, Findery now helps to link stories

with real-world locations through

geotagged ‘notes’ that can be left for

online explorers to discover.

Read more about Findery »

11. App tags physical places with personal stories

Consumers’ exercise regimes have been

forever changed by fitness trackers such

as Fitbit and Nike+ products, but these

small devices don’t tell the whole story of

what’s going on in different parts of the

body during a workout. Now available for

pre-order, Athos is a workout kit with

embedded sensors that offer detailed and

precise data about muscle growth and

technique.

Read more about Athos »

12. These water bottles can be mailed to a recycling plant for free

We don’t typically think of concrete slabs

as anything but dumb pieces of rock, but

in the past we’ve seen innovators

integrate technology into sidewalks to help

them offer up energy and even wifi to

pedestrians. Now Germany’s Future-

Shape has developed SensFloor, a

textile for use indoors that senses the

activity that’s happening on top of it.

Read more about Epic! »

13. Sensor-equipped flooring can tell if someone’s fallen

The creativity of businesses using vending

machines to sell their products seems to

know no bounds, and in the past we’ve

seen even prescription drugs delivered

through InstyMeds‘ 24/7 hospital kiosks.

Going somewhat further, a nonprofit has

now installed crack pipe vending

machines in Vancouver, in order to curb

the spread of HIV and AIDS among the

city’s addicts.

Read more about the crack pipe

vending machines »

14. 25¢ crack pipe vending machines aim to lower HIV rates in

Canada

Public transport journeys can be a pain for

customers when they forget to bring a

book or some music to pass the time.

We’ve already seen Spain’s National

Reading Plan enable train users to get

the first chapter of books on their

smartphones through QR code posters,

and now First Aberdeen in Scotland is

getting passengers to scan the backs of

its seats to receive information and

entertainment on their mobile devices.

Read more about First Aberdeen »

15. Bus company brings seats to life with AR

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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