The 2012 edition of the South by Southwest conference (SWSX) wrapped up in Austin last week. Over the last years, this has become one of hottest stops on the startup circuit, earning a reputation as the biggest breeding ground for new ideas and creative technologies– notably, both foursquare and twitter catapulted to the big leagues after they presented early versions at SWSX. To coincide with all the buzz around SXSW, I decided to spend a better part of this week’s sessions of Identifying New Business Opportunities, an MBA class I am currently teaching, discussing some of the hottest trends from the conference. A small contingent from the class had attended SXSW and they got us started by sharing what caught their attention at the conference (Thanks Nicole, Charlotte…