What business should you start? 12 fast-growing sectors in 2013

1. Independent shops on the High Street
2. Outsourced security services
3. Knowledge-based products and services
4. Big Data
5. The ‘internet of things’
6. Emerging technologies
7. Premium products
8. Lean start-ups
9. Freelancing and contracting
10. Home improvement
11. Digital healthcare
12. IT security

Progress is a wonderful thing. It means throughout history no two years are ever alike. Every first day of January is a portal to 12 months of political, economic and technological chaos that has a big impact on the businesses which succeed and fail.

Anything but cocooned from the economic difficulties, some of the hottest sectors and trends find themselves emerging as a direct result of the strife experienced across the UK.

The deep need to cut costs and live and work more frugally is matched by the disappearance of established entities and the opportunity for the emergence of new ones to replace or serve those looking to outsource. Here, small, agile start-ups can pick up a slice of the enormous, if diminishing pie, where huge overhead costs are not an inhibitor to survival.

Elsewhere, the changing world of technology constantly helps to conceive entirely new sub-sectors. And it is some of these that promise to be the mother of the world’s next generation of multi-billion dollar or pound businesses.

Thousands of start-ups have grown into successful enterprises during recessionary times. And for those that sail with the prevailing winds the changing conditions can work to your advantage.   So for Startups.co.uk readers only, here is our exclusive assessment of the business opportunities in 2013. Use this information to your advantage and laugh as competitors bob helplessly in your wake.

To read more about the sectors we’ve chosen, follow the arrow below or click on the links above.