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Identifying Opportunities In Economic & Regulatory Trends

Regulatory Changes
The first opportunity I thought of is related to the recent regulatory change in Florida regarding the legal age to buy tobacco products. I think that tobacco stores beginning to sell CBD products, which are legal for 18 year olds to buy, would be a great opportunity. The legal age changed from being 18 to 21+, which eliminates a large portion of the previous consumer base. My source of this information was seeing this change in person; I know people personally who had to stop buying tobacco products and have also seen tobacco stores shutting down and going out of business.  Because stores are closing down, I believe that an opportunity for new business ideas definitely exists. The ideal customer for this is college students under 21 years old. I think that the opportunity might be difficult to exploit because CBD is obviously a different product than tobacco, but a lot of people may like it for its relaxing effects and they like the "feeling" of smoking something. I formed this belief because I have firsthand heard people complain about missing the feeling and the daily motions of hitting a tobacco device, and now that it is illegal for them to buy tobacco products they could replace this smoking-need with a CBD vape. They are also a lot healthier and I know a few people who have already ventured into CBD.
Another opportunity lies with cryptocurrency and the cyber security world. I see an opportunity in starting a small, fairly inexpensive class held by an instructor that is knowledgable about cryptocurrency who can teach students more about it that want to get involved. I found this opportunity through my dad, because he works for a cyber security company and always talks to me about cryptocurrency. I think an opportunity lies here because I have heard many people talk about how they want to know more about cyber security, Bitcoin, cryptocurrency, etc. but don't know where to start (and UF doesn't offer specific classes about this). I think the prototypical customer is a young person who is eager to learn about this growing new trend. The opportunity would be relatively easy to exploit, I would just need to find a knowledgable person who would be fit to teach the small class.

Economic
A lot of economic trends right now revolve around things that are eco-friendly and energy efficient. Eco-friendly, chargeable and energy efficient cars have become popular. I think that, especially at a school like UF, an energy efficient eco-friendly scooter that doesn't take gas would be a great opportunity for an invention. I found this opportunity when seeing a charging station for cars at Norman Hall garage and thinking that it would be nice if I didn't have to fill my scooter with gas. I think that an opportunity definitely exists here because it ended up being a successful concept to implement with cars, and scooters are extremely popular at this school for transportation. The customer would be students who are looking for eco-friendly and efficient transportation. This opportunity would be more difficult to exploit because it requires the creation and popularization of a scooter that operates just like the ones we see on campus, but doesn't take gas. The students would also have to care enough about the environment to want to switch. However, I saw this opportunity because there are changes being made all across the world right now to lower the effects of climate change and help the environment. Campuses across the world and filled with students who use scooters as transportation, and I see firsthand how much students rely on them. I also see firsthand how much some people care about the environment, and I think these two things could go hand in hand. 
Another economic trend I see growing is the world of virtual reality. I think bringing virtual reality to people's phones and not just having it be an intense set-up to the TV would be a great market. I found this opportunity through hearing about it in tech articles and online news.  I believe this opportunity exists because virtual reality has already become a very popular phenomenon. I think the customer with this opportunity would be someone who already has VR, or is really interested in technology. The opportunity would be difficult and would require the right programmer or tech company willing to take on building the app. I do see the opportunity because the tech industry is always growing and is very profitable. Also, once an app is made it can always be improved and new, exciting tech ideas generally excite and interest our society. 

Comments

  1. Camila ParraFebruary 9, 2020 at 9:26 PM

    Hi Linnea,
    Your idea of cryptocurrency classes is interesting and I think many students would perhaps be interested in taking a course such as this. It is difficult to determine whether professors or UF would be on board, but I think the growing trend for it would interest students, especially because many do want to learn. Great job on your assignment, I enjoyed reading your other opportunities as well.

    ReplyDelete

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