YOUR WEEKLY FIX OF ENTREPRENEURIAL IDEAS
We’ve selected 15 new business ideas this week 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.
Springwise Weekly | Fitness beer, and the rest of this week’s most exciting new business ideas — 6-12 February
2. Top 10 business ideas & opportunities for 2014!
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YOUR WEEKLY FIX OF ENTREPRENEURIAL IDEAS !
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YOUR WEEKLY FIX OF ENTREPRENEURIAL for 2014! !!
Top 10 business ideas & opportunitiesIDEAS !
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We’ve selected 15 new business ideas this week that will
provide entrepreneurs with plenty of inspiration. Spotted from
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countries all around the world, these ideas offer a taste of
what’s to come.!
4. 1. Social hospital toy lets isolated young patients play with other kids!
Hospitals are never fun for kids, and
we’ve seen a number of ideas in the past
attempt to make their experience more
comfortable, from pirate-themed CT
scanners to fun robots. But being able to
interact with other children is still a major
bonus, something denied to kids who
need to be kept in isolation or quarantine.
From the Netherlands, Konnekt is a
hospital isolation barrier that doubles as a
two-way toy, enabling collaborative play
among children that have to be
separated.!
Read more about Konnekt »!
5. 2. Discovery app stops readers from judging books by their covers!
While platforms such as Oyster are using
the Netflix model to help readers find new
e-books to read, a new app called
Uncovered is working to avoid the
disappointment consumers feel when a
title doesn’t live up to its cover, title or
author — using only short excerpts to
entice readers to purchase.!
Read more about Uncovered »!
6. 3. Community pharmacy doubles as a healthy drinks bar!
Dining and health are intimately related,
so it’s no surprise that in the past we’ve
seen ideas such as Japan’s Tanita
Shokudo cafeteria, which offers dietary
advice sessions alongside its menu. Now
Stanley’s Pharmacy in New York is aiming
to recreate the warm atmosphere of
community drugstores of the 1950s,
providing herbal teas and sodas
alongside its medicines and remedies.!
Read more about Stanley’s Pharmacy »!
7. 4. Business tie features secret subway map"
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.!
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Nowadays, it’s easy to defer to a
smartphone whenever we need
directions, but an internet connection isn’t
always available in underground subway
stations. For business commuters, a
fashion label in Japan has developed the
Subway Map Tie, which discreetly hides a
plan of the Tokyo metro system on its
inside.!
Read more about the Subway Map Tie »!
8. 5. Interactive map helps patients find the fastest emergency!
healthcare!
Waiting is an activity that most people
receiving healthcare have acutely
experienced, whether it’s being put on a
list for treatment or simply passing time
before a GP visit. Cutting waiting time is
something that can drastically improve
patients’ experience, and in the past
we’ve seen ideas such as HealthSpot use
telemedicine to deliver healthcare advice
remotely. For accidents and emergencies
that require more hands-on attention
however, a new platform called ER Wait
Watcher enables users to determine
which nearby hospital is likely to see them
first.!
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Read more about the ER Wait Watcher »!
9. 6. App lets homeowners stream art through their TV!
Owning a masterpiece is not a pleasure
the average consumer enjoys, but being
able to hang some art on the walls is
something most people would like to do.
While some services such as ARTtwo50
have brought the price of original works
down to a fairly affordable USD 250,
Artkick is an app pursuing a different
route by broadcasting renowned
paintings and photography into living
rooms through the TV.!
Read more about Artkick »!
10. 7. App enables users to add typography to their video messages!
Smartphones have placed high definition
cameras into the hands of many
consumers, enabling them to easily
capture their lives on digital film.
However, tools to edit and organize this
raw footage with the same ease are few
and far between. While apps such as
Cinch are going some way to give users
complex editing tools, Wordeo is a new
app that lets amateur filmmakers quickly
organize their clips and add their own text
to tell a better story.!
Read more about Wordeo »!
11. 8. Food delivery service takes orders for 365 days into the future!
While startups like Caviar are helping to
unlock high quality restaurant menus for
takeaway in San Francisco, another
venture is focusing on another aspect of
food delivery in the area. Palo Alto-based
Fluc is helping businesses plan their food
takeouts from any chain up to a year in
advance.!
Read more about Fluc »!
12. 9. Electronic tags deliver real time patient data to responders!
during disasters!
During emergency relief efforts, a
common tactic among responders is the
practice of triage, which involves placing
color-coded tags onto patients to
determine the severity of their injury and
allow medical help to be distributed more
efficiently. Now the Fraunhofer Institute for
Applied Information Technology has
developed eTriage, a digital wristband
system that lets emergency services track
injured citizens on the ground.!
Read more about the eTriage »!
13. 10. Packaging lets consumers message the farmers that made their!
food!
Consumers don’t often have an intimate
knowledge of where the food they buy at
the supermarket or consume in
restaurants comes from, but we have
seen efforts to greater inform customers,
most recently with the Harney Sushi
restaurant, which details its sustainable
fishing practices through edible QR
codes on the meals themselves. Going
slightly further, however, Cisse Trading
Co. is now including QR codes on its
baked goods and hot drinks that enable
customers to send a message to the
farmers that harvested the ingredients.!
Read more about Cisse Trading Co. »!
14. 11. Streamed fitness and dance classes offer real time Q&As!
Enjoying exercise tips from expert
instructors at home has been around
since the age of fitness VHS tapes, now
updated as live streamed sessions
through platforms such as Peloton.
Offering an element of personal
communication with fitness and general
wellness trainers, InstructorLive enables
users to get responses to their questions
in real time.!
Read more about InstructorLive »!
15. 12. Marketplace’s mass produced, 3D-printed products are never!
exactly the same!
3D printing has for a while been touted as
a game changer in mass production, and
we have already seen how the technology
can be applied to consumer-facing
business — for example, the Netherlands’
Zazzy platform, which lets customers
design their own jewelry. Now a new
marketplace called Dyo offers ‘artisanal’
mass-produced items that each feature
individual design quirks and can be
customized by the consumer.!
Read more about Dyo »!
16. 13. USB stick lets distant relatives watch TV and chat together!
While family members may be flung
across the far corners of the world, there
are now many ways to keep in touch
more easily, from video calls to social
media. Now a new startup called bob is
hoping to change the way families use
their TV, with a USB stick that transforms
the screens into an interactive dashboard
to keep track and connect with distant
relatives.!
Read more about Bob »!
17. 14. In Peru, beach cleanup scheme helps disadvantaged people!
become entrepreneurs!
The ocean is full of waste produced by
humans, and beaches often end up
collecting the debris that washes ashore,
which is unsightly and potentially deadly
to marine animals. While cleanup
initiatives have the obvious benefit of
ridding trash from coastlines, the
recyclable waste can also be used for
creating products and opportunities. In
the past we’ve seen schemes in the UK
develop the Sea Chair — a stool made
entirely of trash trawled from the ocean —
and now Plastic Bank is enabling those
participating in beach cleanups in Peru to
exchange their help for training, microloans and access to 3D printing facilities.!
Read more about Plastic Bank »!
18. 15. Fitness beer is actually good for the body!
A beer could perhaps be said to be the
greatest way to unwind — something the
UK’s Deskbeers has tapped into with its
Friday afternoon office delivery service.
However, it’s not the most healthy method
of relaxation, thanks to the calories, its
dehydrating qualities and the next-day
hangover. Lean Machine Ale aims to
change that, offering a variety of fitnessenhancing qualities.!
Read more about Lean Machine Ale »!