6A – Identifying Opportunities in Economic & Regulatory Trends

Regulatory Changes

1.  Endangered and Threatened Species: Listing Species and Designating Critical Habitat: https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=FWS-HQ-ES-2018-0006-0001
1. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service propose to further implement section 4 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 which clarifies the removal of species from the endangered list and designating critical habitat.  The need for this comes from the desire to have higher efficiency and effectiveness of current regulations and processes.  I think this creates an opportunity to create a system or platform that can help identify areas where it is possible to create a critical habitat for a species in need, and on the same platform there could be something more aligned for the public to see where critical areas are, to be more aware.  The fact that I love animals and have spent time learning about endangered species but I have never heard of these specific acts and the need for higher efficiency creating critical habitats made me think that the general public should be more aware of these issues too and where they lie.  The customer or who this need would concern would be people living in the areas in or near the critical areas and people who study or work to conserve that species.  I think this opportunity is more difficult to exploit than others because it would take a lot of research and understanding of the need which I currently do not have if I were to carry it out myself.
2. I personally saw this opportunity through this regulation because I have a passion for animals and wildlife so I see the need for people to be more aware of critical areas, and a solution for people creating critical areas.  Someone who does not share this passion may not think that this is a need.
2. Schedules of Controlled Substances: Temporary Placement of Seven Fentanyl-related Substances in Schedule I: https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=DEA-2017-0016-0004
1. The Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration is issuing a temporary scheduling order to schedule seven fentanyl-related substances in schedule I.  I believe there is an opportunity here to create a platform to educate people on what fentanyl is and how much of it is actually out there--it kills people everyday in America and is not slowing down.  I think there is a need for teaching people about addiction and how to overcome it.  I think the customer for this need would be the younger generation and middle aged people who use electronics/media who could benefit from a platform teaching about addiction and the problems out there because a lot of people don't know much about this issue--including myself.  Businesses that help people with addiction or youth could also benefit from this.  I think this opportunity would be both easy and hard to exploit in different ways--I think it would take a lot of effort to learn more about the issue but I think it would be easy to develop something or a way to educate people.  An easy way to get people's attention about the issue would be to reference public figures who suffered from it.
2. I searched for the word fentanyl on regulations.gov because with all the overdoses of public figures and the general public, fentanyl is becoming an issue itself.  My friend back home is studying to practice medicine to help babies with mothers who suffer from drug addiction so I hear about what she says about this issue all the time.  I think most people would agree that this is a problem, but not all of those people would see an opportunity within that; I do because I hear the passion behind the people who want to help people with this issue of addiction.

Economic Trends

1.  Millennial Investing Habits in 2018: https://www.thebalance.com/how-millennials-are-investing-these-days-4174110
1. The article states that millennials are less likely to invest in anything for their retirement, but more likely to invest in something related to sustainability.  This creates an opportunity where we already know our protypical customer (millennials).  Another trend in the article mentions that the generation of millennials is interested in their health more than ever and thinks they will live a very long life.  This opportunity could combine the two like this--a "feel good" product that focuses on micronutrients such as a greens drink but part of the proceeds go directly to a conversation fund or something that betters the environment to really capture the best of both worlds.  This opportunity/product would actually be very hard to create because I think a lot of companies are focusing already on this social trend so the market for this is already super competitive.  Creating something that is consumed for health also needs to be tested over and over until it is "perfect" to put out in the market.
2. I see this opportunity because I myself as a millennial cannot deny these trends are true, and I believe I spend my money and care about these things in the same way the article mentions.  I always buy products that either donate to a good cause or products that help me receive all of my micronutrients so I can see myself buying this.
2. Top Six Economic Trends: Baby Boomers Aren't Retiring: https://www.thebalance.com/top-usa-future-economic-trends-3305666
1. The article mentions 6 big economic trends and one that caught my eye was that the generation of baby boomers are wanting to retire much later, or not retire at all.  This trend affects the economy because people are working longer (affects younger people needing to enter the job market) and not investing as much into retirement.  I thought the most interesting part was that this is effecting what kind of careers people are looking for; people are finding temporary jobs to travel, going to school for multiple degrees and exploring careers that are less traditional and more meaningful to them.  This creates an opportunity for businesses and schools especially to target people wanting to further their education or career.  The protypical customer in a broad sense would be the baby boomers, but more specifically, people who want to learn more about having a very long career with something they love.  Personally, I think this opportunity would be great and easy to exploit because I am a student at UF where I am surrounded by people who all want to have long careers with something they are passionate about--so I am sure the students here would want to learn more about how to take the steps to get on the best path possible towards their goals.
2. As I said above, I see this opportunity because I am surrounded by people who I believe have the same ideals as the baby boomer ideals mentioned in the article.  Someone not attending college and not looking for employment may not think that this is a true trend (people perceive what they experience to be a common experience).  I am also someone very driven so I loved reading about this trend.