Editor’s note: This article was first published in July 2010. Several ideas it presents as unexploited already existed in 2010 or do now, including underwater restaurants, custom clothing designed online and in-ear devices for instant interpretation.
The other day, while browsing the web, I came across an American business ideas site where one article caught my eye.
In 1998, a high school teacher gave his students an assignment. He told them to spend 90 minutes writing down what they thought humanity should invent to make people’s lives easier.
Here is a list of assorted business ideas that could be very interesting to start.
The students came up with 105 business ideas, of which 15 are still not being exploited as businesses, although some of them have been taken up in a few places. We already have smart climate control, Braille computers, hearing aids, and so on.
In my view, the ideas from these charming kids that can still be exploited are:
- Underwater restaurants
- Restaurants for pets
- Shops selling all kinds of made-to-measure clothing at low prices
- An electronic translator built into the ear for instant translation
- Software for the visually impaired
- An online store where you can customize your own clothing designs and have them shipped to you
- A new brand of cola
- Triangular and circular house designs
- Rotating houses that get sunlight for longer
- Underwear with pockets
- A watch and MP3 player with a built-in TV
- A (hands-free) phone, TV and radio in the shower
- All kinds of reversible clothing and accessories
- Products for left-handed people
- GPS for guide dogs of visually impaired people
Will you be the next entrepreneur or inventor to build a business around one of these products or services? The motivating fact is that, of the 105 business ideas these kids came up with, 90 are already businesses.
Featured image: Alexey Potov – Noblige, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons.
