Maybe you already know about Springwise.  Until yesterday, I had not.  Thanks to Mark, I stumbled upon it this weekend and am kind of fascinated by it. Founded in 2002, Springwise is a Netherlands-based company that "scans the globe for the most promising business ventures, ideas and concepts that are ready for regional or international adaptation, expansion, partnering, investments or cooperation."  There are a lot of things to like about the site, but for me, one of them is that many/most of the ideas seem to come from entrepreneurs from outside the US.  A completely different take in many cases on government, retail and other industries -- and that's good.  In fact, according to compete.com -- estimated unique visitors is only about 80,000/month in the US.  It should be 5 times that number.  Springwise publishes weekly newsletters to about 100,000 professionals in more than 120 countries.  I am the latest subscriber -- and I hope our clients will soon follow suit.

Here are three of the coolest things I learned from them today (NB, before I picked up the Boston Globe):

1. www.academicearth.org -- "New York-based Academic Earth aims to make a world-class education available to everyone on the planet. Toward that end, it is building a user-friendly ecosystem that gives internet users around the globe the ability to find, interact with and learn from full video courses and lectures from the world’s leading scholars. More than 1,500 video lectures are currently available on the site, covering economics, entrepreneurship, history, law, medicine, religion and the sciences, among many other topics. A series of thematic collections, meanwhile, combine lectures to create courses such as "Understanding the Financial Crisis" and "Social Entrepreneurship 101." Faculty for Academic Earth's lectures are drawn from Berkeley, Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Stanford and Yale, and courses are offered under a Creative Commons license through open course programs at the universities. Associated materials include lecture transcripts, handouts, reading assignments, tests and problem sets; some classes are also available as podcasts."
   
2. www.ideascampaign.ie -- Similar to the SocialSphere IdeaMine, "the Idea Campaign asked the citizens of Ireland to propose innovative ideas to boost economic activity in the country across 19 key areas including manufacturing, technology, construction, retail and education. Ideas that will enrich the country through the arts, sports, and volunteer and community activity are being solicited too. Launched by businesswoman Aileen O’Toole, the campaign is an independent and nonpolitical effort funded by O’Toole’s business, AMAS. In addition to contributing practical ideas, visitors to the campaign's website can also leave messages of support. The campaign will run until 31 March. In April, its coordinators will use the ideas received to deliver an action plan to government with aggressive timelines for execution; an advisory group including senior figures from business, academia, economics and the public sector will participate at that point to ensure that recommendations are both pragmatic and achievable. Within the first 24 hours of the campaign's launch, more than 450 people had submitted ideas on the site. Within just five days, more than 1,200 proposals had been made—a selection of which are posted on the site. All of which goes to show, of course, that there's never a shortage of ideas—on virtually any topic—when you ask the crowds. Ask, and you shall receive; don't ask, and you just might miss out on a winning idea."
3. http://www.maennerspielplatz.de/ -- "An amusement park for men that lets them get in touch with their inner construction worker.  For EUR 219, visitors to Männerspielplatz can shed their office trappings and get seriously dirty while playing with excavators, wheel loaders, Caterpillars, quads, Jeeps and more. The park, which is situated in an old factory site just outside Kassel, Germany, offers 18 stations for visitors to enjoy to their heart's content. Challenges include using a Komatsu Hanomag excavator to move huge stones; leveling the ground with a bulldozer; off-road riding on a Quad Unimog; and participating in an archery course. Participants must be at least 18 years old.

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