Editor’s note: This article was first published in May 2010. Forecasts now overdue or unfulfilled include today’s main professions disappearing “in twenty years”, the cost of a bionic hand (about €35,000 then) falling sharply, and petrol cars being replaced by compressed-air vehicles; electric cars took that role instead.
The businesses of the future are already here. In twenty years, today’s main professions will have ceased to exist. These are businesses that are bound to expand even in times of crisis, because there is already demand for them today.
As for the professions of the future, rather than professions and professionals, we should call them techno-professions. These are some of the businesses of the future:
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Bionic prosthesis manufacturers: Demand for bionic prostheses will grow as life expectancy rises and our limbs suffer more wear and tear. Stuart Mead (Touch Bionics) says that soon it will be possible to replace a person’s entire arm, or even an entire leg, giving the patient the same mobility as their own limb. At present, buying, fitting and maintaining a bionic hand costs around €35,000, but within 5 or 10 years costs will have come down considerably. This is clearly a business that will generate millions in a very short time.
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Clean car development: In the very near future, the petrol car will be a museum piece, replaced by compressed-air vehicles. Miguel Celades (Air Car Factories) says that the only reason alternative-fuel vehicles aren’t on the streets is that the big multinationals have sabotaged their development. Even so, they are ready to launch and need only a final financial push from the authorities. One way or another, forward-looking entrepreneurs will try to get a piece of this business.
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Robotics: Robotics is now at the same stage computing was in the 1970s. Iván Bermejo (Iberobotics) already has his own network of distributors, partners, designers, repair technicians and so on, and says that demand for professionals in this sector is growing exponentially. He started his business in the middle of the crisis and made a profit from the first year. He says his business hasn’t stopped growing since.
These are some business ideas for our near future, not to mention building passenger spacecraft, greenhouses, pesticides that don’t pollute the environment and everything related to the most advanced computing. In short, the businesses of our future will be high-tech businesses. An idea for that kind of business will be worth, quite literally, millions.
If you’d like to know which professions will be in demand in the near future, don’t miss this article: The 10 most in-demand jobs of the future.
Further reading (business ideas that are a little less futuristic)
- Business ideas around fitness and personal care
- 10 business ideas with no investment
- How to start my business without money
- Why new businesses fail
Featured image: El monty, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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