While indoor bike rides through pre-recorded video landscapes are nothing new, Connect18 has added a twist: immersion learning. Not only is this a fabulous example of multitasking, but combining exercise and education makes them both more enjoyable. Connect18 Group Tours offers the opportunity for a team of riders on stationary bikes to learn Spanish, for instance, while cycling through rural Mexico. Or to virtually tour the California Wine Country while learning about the region’s whites and reds. Certified instructors help motivate and encourage interaction among the group, and the scenery goes by more quickly or slowly based on the instructor's pace.

While Connect18 has yet to expand its reach beyond San Francisco and surrounding areas, the potential market for this revolutionary fitness and learning concept stretches across the map. And the potential to expand on this idea may be even greater. Not only is the variety of subject matter for courses nearly limitless, but workouts could be adapted to all manner of fitness equipment, including treadmills, rowing machines, stair climbers, elliptical trainers and cross-country ski simulators. An obvious enhancement (and business opportunity) would be individual DVD tours that could be done in front of home television screens.

A focus on learning and skills is something trendwatching.com has identified as a major trend, grounded in a shift in consumer values: “In economies that increasingly depend on creative thinking and acting, well-known status symbols tied to owning and consuming goods and services will find worthy competition from status skills.”

Website: www.connect18.com
Contact: John Ford, john@connect18.com

Spotted by: Helene Goupil

Educational, cultural and fun, the Scholar Ship presents a new model for international education. The Scholar Ship is a semester-long academic program aboard a dedicated passenger ship that will traverse the globe on an itinerary that brings the world to its students. Although not entirely novel – similar initiatives SEA and Semester At Sea started decades ago - this is an appealing new version of the concept, with a particularly strong focus on multi-culturalism.

A carefully developed itinerary aims to provide 600-700 students with a truly global perspective. The inaugural September-December 2007 journey will begin in Piraeus, Greece and take in five continents before ending in Kobe, Japan. (The January-April semester will travel in the opposite direction.) Costs for a semester, including tuition, living costs and voyage, are USD 19,950 for a standard cabin.

Scholar Ship is partnering with Royal Caribbean and the United Nations University and is backed by a consortium of universities in Australia, China, Morocco, Mexico and Ghana. Talks are underway with US and UK universities. Academic credits will be awarded by Macquarie University in Sydney. Engaging multinational employers from the get-go, the organisation's charter members include HSBC, IBM, InterContinental Hotels, KPMG and Microsoft.

“The Scholar Ship’s academic program is designed to nurture the next generation of leaders by equipping them with the international network and multi-cultural outlook that are highly valued by employers today,” says the president of the Scholar Ship, Dr Joseph Olander. From an entrepreneurial point of view, the Scholar Ship presents a clever model that will enable educators to partner with existing cruise ship players.

Website: www.thescholarship.com
Contact: study@thescholarship.com

Drivers Ed Direct aims to revolutionize the drivers education industry, by getting rid of "old cars, dimly-lit sterile classrooms and out-of-touch instructors".

Not only have the old cars been replaced by brand new cars, they've been replaced by gas-electric hybrids: the school's entire fleet is hybrid. In addition to passenger cars (Toyota Prius), Drivers Ed Direct also offers behind the wheel training in hybrid SUVs (Ford Escape), since SUVs require special handling, and many teens will drive them as their first car.

Founded by two life-long friends in California, Drivers Ed Direct isn't just bent on teaching young drivers to be more environmentally aware. The company also believes that a high-tech approach is a far better way to reach teens. Instead of dull classroom lessons, driving theory is taught online, with no classroom attendance required. Which no doubt appeals to high school students who already spend enough time in class, and are extremely at ease online. The interactive, web-based program lets students complete the course at their own pace, and includes animated lessons designed like video games.

As you may have guessed from our previous articles about hybrid taxis and hybrid rentals, Springwise is very much in favour of minimizing the environmental impact of driving. Creating a new generation of eco-friendlier drivers is a step in the right direction. One to copy to the rest of the world!

Website: http://www.driverseddirect.com
Contact: info@driverseddirect.com

Now a US phenomenon, Facebook enables 7.7 million members with a valid email address from a supported college, high school or company to create a profile to share information, photos, and interests with their friends. Sure, there are numerous sites like this, but opportunity, especially outside the US, remains: this is not friendsreunited.com: this is capturing a new generation in such a way that they will never need a reuniting website! More of an ongoing meeting space, Facebook actually ranks as the seventh-most trafficked site in the US.

Next? While Facebook is inviting college students, AND high school students AND companies, the inevitable nouveau niche-ification of everything reaching mass status has already lead to the success of more closely focused myyearbook.com, which has specifically targeted high school students. (The idea for the company was hatched out by two high school students during their 2005 Spring Break.) One million of them have already signed up, avidly adding their collections of videos, notes and photos in school-diary style.

Opportunities abound: in those countries where even the paper version of a yearbook isn't yet part of school culture, this is your chance to introduce a new tradition and do it web 2.0 style, with all the scaling advantages that virtual has over physical. Facebook started a few international sites, but not extensively. Partner or take the lead. After all, this needs a local touch!

Furthermore, for any brand directly or indirectly targeting students (and what brand isn't!), this is where your eyeballs are (whether Generation @ wants to interact with you is another matter; for some tips and examples, check out trendwatching.com's special on youniversal branding).

We invite you to add your own country's equivalents to Facebook and myyearbook.com if they exist: just click on the comments below. Quick, easy, and no strings attached.

Website: http://www.facebook.com
Contact: info@facebook.com

Website: http://www.myyearbook.com
Contact: http://www.myyearbook.com/support

Mobile School is a Belgian foundation that provides portable schools for street children.

Instead of taking homeless children and placing them in an institutional setting, which often doesn't work, the Mobile School reaches out to children in their own environment. The goal isn't just to teach them basic reading and writing skills, but also to help them learn that they deserve a better life. They're given time to develop self-esteem and slowly prepare themselves for life off the streets, or if that isn't possible, at least make their life on the streets more humane.

The school itself is a small, mobile cart with blackboards and educational materials that slide out to give kids plenty of room to work on writing, drawing, learning to count and tell time.

The organisation, founded by a young Belgian industrial designer, got started in Guatemala and Bolivia in 2000. The concept can easily be adapted to other countries and other circumstances, like working with children in refugee camps.

Mobile School currently has 16 schools trekking around cities in South America, Asia, Africa and Europe, and hopes to continue to expand. Each school is run by local youth workers, who are trained by the Belgian foundation. It's a low budget project, and one that could go far with the help of compassionate sponsors!