Domestic inventors have never had problems generating innovative ideas - theirs is much more difficult practical implementation. And the best start for students who want to not only amaze the world with their imagination, but also learn how to make their dreams come true, is the international Microsoft Imagine Cup competition.
This competition helps to understand what innovative solutions the market needs, receive recommendations on the development of such solutions and information about the technologies available for their creation from experts and gurus of the IT industry, and also compete for cash grants for further development project.
The selection of applications for the Imagine Cup competition, the world's largest annual technology competition, held with the support of Microsoft since 2003, has ended. The competition involves graduate and undergraduate students from all over the world, and in the 2017 season they will compete for a prize of $100,000. In April, the Russian qualifying stage will take place in Moscow, the winners of which will represent our country at the international finals in the USA. Domestic teams traditionally show very high level preparing your developments. Let's see what successes the projects of the Russian Imagine Cup winners of past years have achieved.
Man-made worlds made of sand
Virtualization technologies are on the rise today - virtual content is superimposed on a real image, as a result of which what is visible to the eye is radically transformed. Russian companies have already begun to use these technologies; for example, the startup Zengalt has created an application that takes the user to the Mesozoic era, showing the viewer a holographic image of representatives of the fauna of that time. At the same time, dinosaurs seem to be “embedded” in the surrounding reality, “walking,” for example, among the skyscrapers of Moscow City...
However, glasses are not the most comfortable accessory, especially when it comes to children of kindergarten age. For them, Chelyabinsk developer Dmitry Andreev came up with the “Interactive Sandbox” project, where a box with ordinary sand installed in the hall kindergarten, illuminated from above by a computer-controlled projector. Anything can be projected onto the sand: houses, roads and bridges, rivers and lakes, canyons and volcanoes. The sandbox comes to life, and playing becomes much more interesting. But it’s not for nothing that it’s interactive - the camera tracks everything the children do with the terrain and adjusts the image produced by the projector in real time! If you want to change the paved road and “draw”, say, a turn on it with your fingers, the projector will immediately make the turn realistic: it will highlight the asphalt with markings, the sandy roadside, and the grass around. Rake up a pile of sand and it will immediately become a mountain; dig a hole and it will become a lake!
“Children now master computers and tablets almost from infancy, but we took a traditional sandbox game, a little new technology - and combined them!” says Dmitry Andreev. “Winning the Microsoft competition allowed our student project to step beyond the amateur stage, attract the attention of the Minister of Education to the prototype, and ultimately develop into a full-fledged Innovation for Children company.
Today "Interactive Sandbox" is a ready-made product that can be purchased. The startup has developed into the company "Innovations for Children", and dozens of kindergartens across the country and even abroad have already been equipped with sandboxes.
Chasing the light
The game Turn On (“Turn On!”) by a Russian indie game project from Perm, Brainy Studio, is often called the popular Internet meme “Warm and lampy” - and it really is! Incredibly cozy graphics with very rich, but at the same time soft colors and mesmerizing music - this is exactly what is called an atmospheric game. There is something in it from the cult film "Kin-dza-dza", something from slightly arthouse Estonian cartoons about the dog Lotte - everyone will have their own associations... Adults perceive the game as a colorful "casual game", children - quite seriously.
A simple platform game at first glance, silent, like Chaplin’s films, but everything in it is clear and without unnecessary chatter. As a result of the fall of a meteorite, the lights go out everywhere in the city and a mini-apocalypse begins. You control a small animated spark, which must return energy to every home by running through the wires. The player is required to have both manual dexterity and logic to move quickly, fight enemies and collect bonuses.
Everyone knows "Mario", where the hero runs around platforms, in fact, this is what it is classic game in the genre " platformer "- says Dmitry Ogorodnikov, one of the creators of the game. - In Turn On, instead of platforms there are wires, main character can only move along them, which significantly distinguishes the game from others. Plus, I think the kindness of the game contributed to the popularity - everything is positive and beautiful here, no one kills anyone, which is rare even in platformers!
It is not easy to make a successful platformer - it is believed that in this simple genre everything that is possible has already been implemented. In addition, a serious flagship-level action game is only possible for studios with multimillion-dollar budgets. The developers wanted to try to do something new within the existing simple student indie studio. And they succeeded - the jury of the Imagine Cup competition appreciated what makes their product original and distinguishes it from others.
Today the game is already bringing real income to its creators: it is sold on the Xbox and PC platforms in the global game store Steam.
Electronic eyes
A world in a gray fog, filled with sounds - this is what a blind person feels. However modern technologies can at least partially replace vision! Helping the blind was chosen as the main direction of their research by the participants. Russian startup Oriense. They developed a navigator for the blind, radically different from traditional navigators. It's called OrNavi and is a mobile gadget with a number of large keys. Of course, it does not have a screen, as is customary today.
The device's software is carefully thought out, taking into account the fact that its interface is exclusively voice-based. OrNavi tips may seem strange to the sighted, but for the blind they are a lifesaver! In continuous mode, the navigator reports which objects the owner is passing by: shops, pharmacies, banks, parks, etc. When approaching an entrance, both its account number and the apartment numbers in it will sound! Not only buildings are sounded, but also all urban infrastructure objects - lawns, fountains, stairs. At a public transport stop, the navigator will immediately inform you about the route numbers. If the owner of the device gets on the bus, he will hear the name of the nearest stop in advance. Moreover, the sound in the device is transmitted through bone conduction headphones, due to which the user’s ears remain open and he can hear surrounding sounds, which is very important for the visually impaired!
But the most interesting thing about the navigator is the glasses, built on the basis of Microsoft Kinect, a sensor from a gaming Xbox consoles, which many developers have already successfully used in projects completely unrelated to games.
Using a camera and an image depth sensor, the glasses actually do the work of a guide dog - their “eyes” look several meters ahead and notice steps (telling them whether they are going up or down!), holes, pillars and other urban obstacles, said Maxim Spiridonov , blind programmer at Oriense. “The device warns in advance both about the distance and the side from which it is better to avoid the obstacle.”
In addition, the glasses will help you determine the denomination of a bill with voice prompts, read a sign, recognize a color (for example, to pick up clothes before going out or sort socks into pairs), scan barcodes to find out the type of product. The wide range of capabilities of the device provides the necessary sense of independence for the blind.
Social projects are given Special attention at Imagine Cup. In the field of developments that help people with disabilities, it is much easier to find support for a student team taking its first steps with an eye on the high-tech market. And Oriense made the right decision - thanks to their victory in the competition, the inventors of “electronic eyes” attracted the attention of a number of funds for the blind, the large venture accelerator iDealMachine, and the Skolkovo innovation center.
Ball in a black and white universe
Making simple games is very difficult... unless, of course, you want the game to become popular. Alexander Vilasak and his team from St. Petersburg called IzHard, developers of the indie game OVIVO in the spirit of “complex primitivism,” dream of competing with the famous Finnish “Angry Birds” or the Russian Cut The Rope (“Cut the Rope!”). Both of these games, like other similar ones, look extremely simple, but are built on complex mathematics that models the physical behavior of real objects. As a result, "primitive" toys are not so easy to complete, they are really addictive!
OVIVO is a 2D platform game where you control a ball called OVO that travels through a black and white abstract world. Being black, OVO is heavier than air and is affected by gravity, and when it changes color to white, it becomes as if inflated with helium - and flies upward. Colors and worlds alternate every second, and it’s not easy to control the ball, catching the ups and downs and switching the dark part of the world to the light one and vice versa. The player will have to overcome dangers and collect all the symbols to discover the history of the dual universe, and all this - to the accompaniment of atmospheric psychedelic music...
There are certainly similar games - BadLand, Type:Rider, Limbo and others,” says Alexander Vilasak. - The difference between OVIVO and these games is primarily in the unusual mechanics of the hero’s movement: the game does not have the “Jump” function; as is usually the case, the character jumps due to increasing momentum when changing positions in colors. Plus, there is no text in OVIVO, right down to the tutorial - “maximum minimalism”!
The guys are sure that participation in the Microsoft Imagine Cup is the best path into the profession for aspiring game designers. It is possible that without winning the competition, the unusual and fascinating game would have remained a piece of software at the hobby stage, but the prize of 50 thousand dollars, invested in the development of OVIVO, gave the young studio its first commercial product, which actually became their calling card. The official release is scheduled for summer 2017.
Roboruk replaces a living one
New technologies in last years have made a real breakthrough in improving the quality of life of people with disabilities. And it’s nice that more and more domestic developments are appearing in this area - such as the Myoarm Control System project from a team of MIPT students Galvani Bionics.
The development of Galvani Bionics is a software and hardware platform for controlling robotic prosthetic arms. A small bracelet is worn on the forearm, and its sensors detect the bioelectric impulses of muscle fibers in active points. The impulses are amplified, digitized, after which they are processed mathematically so that the device accurately understands what movement the owner wants to make with the robotic arm.
It is not the person who trains to work with the device, but the device itself adapts to the person, which fundamentally simplifies the process of getting used to the prosthesis,” notes project manager Timur Bergaliev. - We are often asked: what is the fundamental difference between the Myoarm Control System and similar foreign technologies? There are no fundamental differences in this area and there cannot be; all manufacturers of smart prostheses use the principle that was discovered by Luigi Galvani in the 19th century - the use of electrical impulses generated by muscles as commands for a mechanical arm. We simply use our own data processing algorithms to better recognize commands to control the prosthesis. The dimensions of the device are reduced, the learning process of the system is simplified, and most importantly, use becomes more convenient!
Improving the technology used by the world's major companies is the right way interest industry leaders. Such youth projects, which are also awarded prizes at international competitions, are often acquired by large brands, and yesterday’s students get jobs in corporations. Now the guys are working on a pre-production sample of their device. After final improvements, the software and hardware platform is awaiting Russian prosthetists, who have already announced their readiness to begin integrating the system into their prostheses.
... Well, the Imagine Cup 2017 competition promises the discovery of new interesting projects. Already on April 15, the names of the finalists will become known, whose projects will represent Russia at the international finals of the competition in Seattle.
22 leading universities in the country are launching unique programs
The Ministry of Education and Science and the Internet Initiatives Foundation, created on the instructions of the president, plan to turn each university into a “little Skolkovo.” Leading Russian universities are launching a special educational course on innovative entrepreneurship and startup management.
The initiators of the course believe that without this knowledge, our potential Jobs and Zuckerbergs cannot bring their ideas to practical implementation.
After graduating from university, many young people think about starting their own business, and they are primarily attracted to Internet technologies. They are attracted by the fame of the creators of popular social networks, smartphones, and fashion applications. Thousands of foreign graduates and university students are creating innovative micro-companies, raising money for a startup through crowdfunding (i.e., a cry on the Internet: “give as much as you can in exchange for a future product!”).
And the ideas, I must say, are being implemented amazingly. How do you like a quadcopter helicopter that flies above you, guided by the signal from the bracelet on your wrist? It does not require any control and shoots high-quality video of you in motion - whether you are on a skateboard, bike, or surf. Or a “smart tourist suitcase” that opens with a fingerprint, tells you its coordinates on your smartphone, can charge gadgets via USB, and also contains built-in scales so as not to overpay at airports? What about electric roller skates? These are not dreams or ideas, but actually selling developments! But not here, but there...
In Russia, alas, there is nothing much to boast about yet. We are not very good at raising money through crowdfunding; investors and business angels look sourly at students with ideas, and startups often die before they are born. It seems that the reason is that we know about startups by hearsay and are not aware of the “deep cuisine”. While universities such as Stanford, MIT, Berkeley Business School, and other leading universities have long had courses on innovative entrepreneurship.
But now in Russia, students will be taught innovative business in a massive and organized manner, according to a single program throughout the country.
“We recently conducted an analysis of the employment of all graduates of 2013-2014 - this is approximately 1.2 million people,” says Alexander Sobolev, Director of the Department of State Policy in the Sphere higher education Ministry of Education and Science.— A little more than 800 thousand, or about 75%, were employed (though not necessarily in their specialty). Of these, about 3% started their own business in the first year after graduation - and this is a very good figure, although it is significantly lower than the American or European one. The problem is that many young people, although they have an idea, do not have the skills to develop a business.
“Students, graduate students, young scientists can develop a product, but they cannot always clearly formulate a business idea,” confirms Alexander Ragutkin, Vice-Rector for Research at MIREA. — Universities do not prepare people to communicate with investors and potential client.
It is to close this gap that the Internet Initiatives Development Fund was created, which promotes a free course in the country's universities on the proper creation and development of youth business - startups.
— We have prepared a startup training program specifically for the university format; it has already started working at Moscow State University, Higher School of Economics, and the Academy named after. Plekhanov, MSTU im. Bauman, MIREA, Ural Federal University and others,” says Kirill Varlamov, director of the fund. — This year we signed agreements with 22 largest universities, where technical fields and IT are represented, and next year we plan to launch it in 100 universities. Up to 200,000 students will be able to enroll in the course in 2015, and up to a million by 2016. Materials and methods are transferred to universities completely free of charge, and work is organized in classrooms and seminars. At the same time, we trained about 400 private investors - people who are ready to invest their money in student companies - we taught them to identify promising projects that can make a profit.
— For now, the course on creating and developing startups is elective and optional. It takes universities a long time to update the program in order to insert it into the main program,” says course creator Margarita Zobnina.
MK asked the director of the fund, Kirill Varlamov, to give examples of specific student projects that have a chance of success and interest from investors.
— An interesting project is called “Tourbazar”. This is in fact an Internet service. Its essence is this: mini-hotels, holiday homes, and tourist centers have unsold stock during the low season. An agreement is concluded with them, and they conditionally transfer the number of rooms to the student project free of charge. On the Internet, the guys are doing an auction with prices starting from a ruble - they are selling the opportunity to spend 2-3 days in a holiday home. The main condition is to advertise on social networks. Holiday homes, tourist centers and sanatoriums get rid of idle space and receive advertising, and everyone can rent a room for 1000-2000 rubles for the weekend and have fun outside the city.
— We mainly make applications, various Internet services, information projects - things that are useful, but cannot be touched with your hands. Foreigners more often create things that can be bought “live” - innovative devices, household appliances, toys. Why is it not like this with us?
— You are partly right - we have more software products. Probably the reason is the less developed material base - in Russia only Lately"Fab labs" are appearing - laboratories where innovative hardware can be made. But still, Russian students do not only software development. Our students have developed, for example, a smart watch, an anti-theft system for a bicycle that reports its coordinates to the owner’s smartphone, and a “life button” - a device that allows an elderly or sick person to send a signal for help with one touch.
— But I have already seen all these developments on foreign sites, and for a long time. Where is something original?!
- Don’t rush to accuse ours of being secondary! Firstly, of course, this is not plagiarism, but an adaptation of well-known ideas for our conditions. For example, 70% of successful American startups are of no interest to anyone at all, and 30 percent need to be seriously adapted - this is not easy and necessary work. Plus, the use of well-known ideas is a necessary stage of development, because innovative student startups abroad take much longer to develop than in Russia. But we will definitely catch up with them!
Every student dreams of becoming famous. And the surest way to become famous is to do something completely new. You don't have to be a genius to do this, you just need to believe in yourself and use your time correctly. And, of course, do not be afraid of dropping out of the university. We've all heard about student startups that make their founders rich. We present to your attention a list of the 10 most interesting and most successful companies, born in “student cells”.
Reddit, 2005
Reddit was created by University of Virginia students Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian. The idea was that the Internet needed a news site organized along the lines of other Web 2.0 portals. The result was a global exchange portal different types new content - from text messages to direct links. Anyone can follow what's posted on Reddit, but only registration allows for voting, which causes some posts to rise and others to disappear. Today, Reddit has 28 employees and is the 64th largest website in the world according to research company Alexa. The site provides excellent opportunities not only for its creators, but also for other young people, links to whose projects are posted on Reddit.
If you play Muggle Quidditch, then you definitely know the Quiyk brand. On the other hand, if the combination of the words “Muggle Quidditch” makes you puzzled, then this startup is not for you. Emerson College students Eric Wahl and Matt Lowe created a company in 2006 that specializes in manufacturing sportswear for unusual sports. As a result, the company's main clients were fans of the Harry Potter book series, who decided to recreate the Quidditch competition, a kind of football on a broom, in real life. The Quiyk startup is niche but profitable. And the very fact of its existence suggests the thought: “Only students could come up with this.”
Dropbox, 2007
Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi from the famous Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT) decided to challenge traditional e-mail, which did not allow sending large files. They created a service that allows you to store content and instantly send it to anyone, regardless of the restrictions imposed mail client. One of Dropbox's innovations: the user can create a special folder right on the desktop and drop files there that he wants to send to the Internet. Many cloud services have followed the example of Dropbox, but it remains the most popular. 200 million people actively use this system.
Another MIT student, Karina Pickhart, one day decided to take seriously the problem of Braille, which blind people use to identify letters and words by touch. The problem was that there was no simple way creating stickers with text that can be read by people with visual impairments. Pickhart was able to develop technology that makes it possible to produce such stickers not only in bulk, but also using an individual device. In other words, now blind people can leave themselves messages, reminders, stick information about their contents on boxes and packages of products, and so on. The startup raised funding through Kickstarter and has been successfully developing for several years.
First Round Records, 2009
The music industry is stagnating, but Tig Egan, Zach Johnson, Sterling Brewster and Riley Egan are shrugging it off as they launch their own record label. At the time of the company's creation, all participants were under 25 years of age. And they already had a wealth of experience in the field of startups, since before the creation of First Round Records, students invested in other young companies, making good money from it. They even bought a large block of Apple shares, which have risen in price several times in recent years. As for First Round Records, in the first year it brought in revenue of $645 thousand to the founders, which is not so bad compared to general situation in branch.
Cheeseboy, 2010
Classic American startup: Michael Inwald, not yet finishing school, decided to make something that, it would seem, everyone around him had been doing for a long time - hot cheese sandwiches. At first, Michael wandered around on picnics and holidays and fried cheese on his own, but then luck smiled at him, and the young businessman opened his first outlet Cheeseboy in Boston. Since then, the brand has been developing rapidly, the range is expanding, and the simplicity of the dishes and high quality are likely to provide the startup with a bright future and good profitability.
Everyone needs money. What can we say about students who critically lack time for part-time work? However, do not be discouraged. We have prepared the most promising business options for students, which are easy to implement in the shortest possible time.
Writing essays, dissertations and term papers
It should be noted that pricing in this area is quite different. After all, each order is valued at individually. It all depends on the requirements put forward, the subject, the need for graphical presentation of research results, etc. Most often, the turnaround time for such orders is from 3 days to a week in the case of abstracts, and from 7 days for more serious ones scientific works. For urgent orders, the client must pay an additional 20% of the original price.
Further development of this business idea for students is opening their own office space and registering as a private entrepreneur. Of course, this is possible with the growing popularity of services and the expansion of the customer base. As a result, the degree of trust on the part of potential customers will significantly increase. Creating your own online resource will contribute to the growth of your customer base. Moreover, it is desirable to establish cooperation with existing electronic libraries, which will significantly increase the volume of work.
Maintenance and setup of modern gadgets
For this type of activity you will need: a passion for progressive gadgets, communication skills, and perseverance. Before starting a business, a student will need:
- purchase a personal computer or laptop;
- connect to the Internet. After all, today you can find instructions for any equipment there. There are also recommendations for setting it up and maintaining it;
- find a small room but with good lighting.
New owners of smartphones and tablet computers are often unable to figure out all the functionality of these devices on their own. Also very often the installation of additional software is required. Services include gluing protective films on displays, assistance with registration in content stores for subsequent independent downloading of programs, etc.
The pricing policy depends on the fees for applications, as well as the cost of materials used to provide services (for example, the price of film).
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Creation of a portal for schoolchildren and students
Today, a university or even a school’s own website is no longer uncommon. But the information posted on such sites is not relevant and interesting for students. All such projects are built according to an identical scheme: history of the institution, teaching staff, graduates, etc. Why not create a resource with various administrative data, news of student life, job offers, materials for educational process, scanned lectures by university teachers, etc.
Having formed a core audience (regular visitors), you can post materials on a paid basis or make money from contextual advertising.
This word has recently become one of the most popular. Films are made about startups, books are written, and various stories are told. The word “startup” comes from the English phrase startup, which means a successful start or launch. Thus, a startup is a company that has successfully started its business. From a theoretical point of view, a startup is a company whose goal is to create a new business model that can be repeated and scaled. In other words, if the startup turns out to be profitable, many such companies can be created. This is where the classic way of earning profit from a startup comes from - organizing a successful business and then selling it (the model of earning money through capitalization growth). The second way to make a profit is to launch an effective startup and sell a franchise for it - the opportunity to run the same profitable business in a separate territory, while for the provision of all business technologies, the franchise owner transfers part of the profit or revenue to the startup organizer.Stages of startup development
Each startup project goes through the following steps:- Development. At this stage, the actual idea for the business appears, an implementation plan is being worked out, a search for sources of financing and other work is underway. An important activity is market research and identification of competitors. If the startup is technological, at this stage you should definitely patent the know-how, analyze substitute inventions, and so on. Launch. At this stage, the startup has its first clients. This means that running a business in real conditions is being practiced. The launch stage is the most critical for a startup, since poor service to first customers and providing them with low-quality goods will lead to further impossibility of business development. The success of this stage is based on the quality of project planning during its development. Extension. At this stage, the startup idea is developed, sales are increased, the main profit is earned, it is invested in further capacity growth, and so on. Exit. A startup implies closure or withdrawal from a project. There are two options for closing, as written above: selling the company or selling the franchise. Based on the results of exiting a startup, the effectiveness of the project is assessed (the ratio of investments and achieved results).
Who is a startuper
To launch profitably new project, you need, firstly, an initiator of an idea for a startup, someone who will come up with it and begin to implement it. But, as a rule, profitable projects are rarely done alone. The initiator needs assistants, those to whom he can delegate part of his powers and entrust certain actions. Most often, such a team does not work for wages, her motivation is also her share in the project. Thus, it is the team of those who began to implement the idea, led by its initiator, that is called startupers. In most cases, these are students or specialists who have just graduated from a university (although there are no age restrictions for a startuper). This situation is explained by the fact that students have a very flexible mind, they are generators of ideas, they want to invent something, to show the world their importance. In addition, they are not afraid to try, and this is one of the main qualities of a start-up - not to be afraid of failures and to be ready to start their business again.Profitable startup ideas for business from scratch
Interesting ideas with minimal investment
The first part of the projects that can be implemented with minimal investment is your own business at home. As a rule, it grows out of a hobby, therefore, in this category there may be the preparation and sale of confectionery and baked goods, making souvenirs, decorating dishes, and so on. For men, an example of a business based on hobbies and skills is the provision of “husband for an hour” services. The second part is more suitable for men, since it involves the use of a garage. This could be the provision of car service services or, if equipment and tools are available, the manufacture of any parts or goods. This category can also include activities in the garden. Growing vegetables with their further processing or sale in fresh It can also be a completely profitable type of business. Another segment could be services to the population at home or in rented premises. If an aspiring entrepreneur has any unique skills, they can be used to start a business. These types of ideas include various ateliers, hairdressers or tutoring.New ideas - internet startups
Internet startups can also be divided into four types. The first type is online stores. In this segment, the secret to success is right choice product or assortment, as well as convenient service on the website. If you manage to independently master Internet marketing techniques, with the help of which you can promote your website, the effectiveness of your work will be significant. The second type of projects is precisely consulting and training. Having certain skills, it is quite possible to sell them on the Internet. This could be like learning a certain school subjects, manufacturing coursework and essays to order, as well as conducting various trainings and webinars for adults. Consulting can also be different, but due to its specifics, in most cases it relates to the field of IT and website optimization. The third type of startup on the Internet is the creation information portals. By creating unique content on certain topics, such startups most often earn money by advertising goods and services, which they either place on their website or mention certain brands of goods in their materials. Finally, the fourth type of startups on the Internet is the creation and development of unique services and programs, the analogues of which simply did not exist on the Internet until that time. In this segment, the originality of the idea, its correct implementation, as well as the usefulness of the final product for the consumer are very important.American social startups
In America, one of the most popular ways to attract funding for a startup project is crowdfunding. This fundraising mechanism means that anyone who wants can finance an idea in exchange for any bonuses. Since on initial stage It is difficult to obtain serious bonuses, and in the long term, legal barriers to formalizing the relationship between those who make contributions through the crowdfunding system and those who receive financing prevent the receipt of such benefits; with the help of crowdfunding, mainly various social projects are financed. As an example, the production of alternative films (alternative cinema), composing unpopular music, and so on. Fundraising for the implementation of this kind of startup projects is currently carried out through special platforms (Kickstarter, IndieGoGo and RocketHub). The principle of their operation is that the project initiator posts information about his idea on the site, and visitors vote with money.Agriculture Startup Ideas
The current options for startups in the agricultural industry are to use new telecommunication technologies. For example, not long ago a device for monitoring soil conditions appeared, and information from it can be obtained remotely. As a result, a farmer or agricultural enterprise always has a clear idea of the condition of his land and what measures need to be taken to increase its fertility. An interesting idea is also a livestock registration service. Most people living in the village are aware of the loss of livestock. The presence of special transmitters and an application with which you can track the movement of livestock allows you to minimize the risk of losses and preserve livestock. Successful startups also include various kinds of assistants to specialists. For example, a device for selecting drugs for treating and increasing plant productivity. Or a device for determining the composition of the soil and selecting the optimal crops to grow on it. Thus, despite the fact that agriculture is a very conservative industry, there is a place for modern technologies in it.
How to come up with a startup idea and implement it
To create a profitable project, modern analysts and experts recommend going through the following series of steps:- Analyze and formulate your skills and strengths, think about what you would like to do. The second step is to determine what business is very inspiring, what the entrepreneur is ready to do with full dedication and what he is ready to devote maximum of his working time to. The next step is to search for a problem that exists, but has not yet been solved in that area , where their strengths were discovered. At first glance, it may seem (especially to people with low self-esteem) that no one needs their skills, but this is not so. You need to think, look at problems from a different angle, show your own creativity and come up with an idea for a startup that has not yet been brought to life. The fourth step is building a prototype of the product, manufacturing prototype and its testing. If it really solves the problem, then you can continue to engage in this business, otherwise, you need to look for a new solution to the problem. The fifth and final step is the launch of the project, its implementation. The effectiveness test is the availability of revenue and profit from the sale of project products. If the work results are positive and there is profit, then we can talk about a successful startup. If it doesn’t work out the first time, you’ll have to try again.
