Assignment 6A- Identifying Opportunities in Economic & Regulatory Trends

• Economic trends: Cheap oil prices not helping climate control 
• Source: https://www.ibtimes.com/cheap-oil-blocking-progress-climate-change-2741915
• I think that this information suggests an opportunity might exist because climate change is and has been a growing problem. According to a graph of gas prices in the article, gas prices have been falling since 2012. Because gas is so cheap, people are willing to drive more thus contributing to climate change even more.
• The prototypical customers are those who are environmentally conscious. 
• I think that the opportunity to do something about climate control is relatively difficult to achieve. It would be very hard to try to pass regulation regarding climate control. It would also be hard to come up with some sort of solution or invention to climate control. A place to start would be trying to get automakers and the government to work together to find a long term solution. 
• A class I took last semester, called introduction to environmental science, is what helped me find this opportunity. In this class we learned a lot about the environment. We watched multiple videos and documentaries about climate change and how it is such a growing concern to the world.

• Economic trend: Global warming could cause the pest population to increase
• Source: https://www.ibtimes.com/global-pest-population-could-increase-climate-changes-affecting-staple-crop-yields-2713023
• I think that this information suggests that an opportunity might exist for many reasons. For one, some pests can carry disease which can make people very ill when they are bit. An example of this is mosquito's carrying Zika. Pests can also be very annoying and might even destroy things, such as termites. 
• A prototypical customer would be anyone who lives in pest prone areas of the world. Such as humid areas. 
• I think this opportunity would be easy to exploit. One could come up with some sort of solution to get rid of and keep pests away. On the other hand, it would be hard to find a solution to climate change, again because ways of handling climate change are controversial.
• The spread of the Zika virus through mosquito's is what helped me find this opportunity. It was awful to see pregnant woman get bit by a mosquito and then their unborn children have developmental problems. With an increase in the pest population, the spread of viruses and diseases would be more widespread.

• Regulatory change: homeland threat assessment act
• Source: https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/116/hr480
• I think that this opportunity exists because there are always threats to the United States. There are always terrorists trying to attack the United States.
• A prototypical customer would be anyone who lives in the United States of America.
• I think it is relatively easy to exploit because there is a need for increase homeland security. There should definitely be more investigation into those on the “watch list” along with more screening. 
• I think my attitudes and desires are what helped me find this opportunity. I think that terrorists are awful and that many more things need to be done to stop them before they carry out their attacks. 9/11 was a terrible event and it cannot happen again.  

• Regulatory change: Google fined for not abiding Europe’s data privacy law
• Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/21/technology/google-europe-gdpr-fine.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FRegulation%20and%20Deregulation%20of%20Industry&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=collection
• I think that this opportunity exists because there are always companies and people violating privacy laws.
• A prototypical customer would be anyone who uses search engines, social media, and other privacy encroaching apps.
• I think it would be relatively difficult to exploit because there are so many ways for someone’s privacy to be violated.
• My experiences are what helped me find this opportunity. A girl I went to high school with had someone tap into the camera in her computer and watched her all the time. Now whenever I am on my computer I am paranoid. I put a sticky note over my computer and close it when I am not using it.