I don’t usually post stuff like this here – but this article from Minnesota Business Magazine caught my eye. Yoshi Suzuki-Lambrecht at MIRUM talks about four trends that he sees will impact digital life. I think they are worth considering as rural communities look at how they can meet community needs and encourage broadband adoption. In fact, I think there’s plenty of room for folks to find a way to modify some of these applications to suit a rural community…

1.Apps: The Uber-ization of Everything:

The app landscape is proliferating with companies providing focused service of convenience. A few such on-demand service apps include Washio (on-demand laundry service), Wealthfront (investment and financial advice), TaskRabbit (any small jobs and errands) and Push for Pizza (this one is self explanatory). Bonus: Hire A Goat Grazer — a service by Amazon that will send goats to eat the excess grass on your lawn. What might be the next million-dollar idea of on-demand convenience?

2. Business: Infrastructure Innovation:

Facebook and Google are just two of the companies that are beginning to establish digital infrastructures within and outside the United States for R&D and early market entry. Google initiated “Project Loon” to provide wireless Internet access through balloons. Facebook will provide satellite Internet to rural areas in Africa beginning 2016. As competitive differentiation and customer loyalty is becoming ever more difficult to establish, businesses are considering strategic, long-term investments on digital infrastructures in high-potential markets.

3. Marketing: Digital Product Development:

Many blue chip brands are leaping beyond their comfort zones to create original digital products and apps. They focus on creating unique and differentiated brand experiences through fulfilling specific consumer needs or desires that are relevant to the brand. Several notable examples include HeathyDay app (Johnson & Johnson), Collar Camera (Nature’s Recipe), and Magic Mirror on the Wall (Chow Sang Sang Jewelry).

4. Society: We’ re Only Getting Older:

The U.S. Census Bureau projects that the number of people over 65 will double between 2012 and 2050, from 43.1 million to 83.7 million. As a result, we are seeing digital innovations with the aging population in mind, including exoskeleton bionic suits for assisted walking and heavy-lifting (Esko Bionics), iPad with apps tailored to seniors’ needs (Apple, IBM and JapanPost), and the Japanese “Robot Hotel,” staffed almost entirely by robots, which is one of the earliest manifestations of companies anticipating the rapidly aging working population.