(We originally posted this in 2020. You can read more of our original ideas in our archive.)
Problem: Some of the technology industry’s best ideas were dreamed up 50+ years ago. However, technology is just now getting to a point where these dreamt up abstract concepts can actually be translated into reality. Is there a way to re-discover what is old and has been forgotten?
Solution: This business would catalog old footage of top innovators of the day to create a searchable video catalog of innovations from as early as the 1940s. Some argue that“There is nothing new under the sun” — this business would focus on locating what exactly is under the sun at all. To create innovation, one must know what came before and connect the dots to infer what will be coming next.
I was in particular inspired watching The Mother of All Demos, presented by Douglas Engelbart in 1968. As described in the video’s description, "The Mother of All Demos is a name given retrospectively to Douglas Engelbart's December 9, 1968, demonstration of experimental computer technologies that are now commonplace. The live demonstration featured the introduction of the computer mouse, video conferencing, teleconferencing, hypertext, word processing, hypermedia, object addressing and dynamic file linking, bootstrapping, and a collaborative real-time editor."
Ars Technica effectively describes why the presentation was significant:
Even before his famous demonstration, Engelbart outlined his vision of the future more than a half-century ago in his historic 1962 paper, "Augmenting Human Intellect: A Conceptual Framework."
To open the 90-minute-long presentation, Engelbart posited a question that almost seems trivial to us in the early 21st century: "If in your office, you as an intellectual worker were supplied with a computer display, backed up by a computer that was alive for you all day, and was instantly responsible—responsive—to every action you had, how much value would you derive from that?"
Of course at that time, computers were vast behemoths that were light-years away from the pocket-sized devices that have practically become an extension of ourselves.
Realistically, Engelbart’s demo was not the only “futuristic” one of his day: it is simply the one that is still most popular today. This business would focus on re-discovering “old” moonshots combined with modern technology to create entirely new applications.
One big mining for this innovation would come from World Fairs. Here’s a small smattering of what was advertised in the brochure for a 1964-65 guide to the New York World’s Fair:
The Kitchen of the future (read this original New York Times article): Walter Dorwin Teague Associates, a design company now known as Teague, showcased "The Kitchen of the Future," where appliances would appear as needed from otherwise bare walls, floors and ceilings.
Take your own “Electronic Photo” at the Toshiba Exhibition. The Toshiba Pickup Storage Tube “memorizes” the still picture and projects it at any time up to about a half an hour afterward.
Fascinating Medallion City. Beyond the arch is a real all-electric city… with homes and stores, civic and industrial buildings – even a space observatory.
American Airlines offers a good choice of flights between New York and Boston for only $15.45.
Computers at work: an exhibit shows how technical data that are written in Russian can quickly and accurately worded in English.
The development of the telephone is illustrated, and guests may use actual “picturephone” instruments developed by Bell Telephone Laboratories…. The Visual Speech exhibit transforms voices into visual symbols on a TV screen.
Parker Pen offers visitors the names of pen friends from other nations. There are 90 writing desks, and hostesses supply pens, postcards and stationery for this (or any other) correspondence… Parker expects to supply more than a million names during the Fair’s two years
Innovation is not necessarily new: old videos, brochures, newspaper articles, and more can serve as inspiration to create the next billion dollar idea(s). This business in particular would sell these repackaged innovations in a new context. It would be the business insights company of the past.
Monetization: Sales of these business insights.
Contributed by: Michael Bervell (Billion Dollar Startup Ideas)