INTEC, RIBER and FEV promote Foresight and Sustainability in the country
Mildred Sena, a futurist, environmental consultant, and professor at INTEC, explained how foresight allows us to anticipate, plan, and build a better future.
SANTO DOMINGO. - La Visionary Ethics Foundation (FEV), in collaboration with Ibero-American Network of Foresight (RIBER) and the Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC), held the conference “Prospective and Sustainability: Anticipating to Transform", un A space dedicated to reflecting on foresight and sustainability, two fundamental approaches to anticipating and transforming the emerging challenges of our societies.
The session led by Mildred Sena Vittini, INTEC professor y specialist member of RIBERIt focused on how leading nations not only predict the future, but actively design it through anticipation and sustainability methodologies.
La prospective It is based on anticipating the critical points of the problems based on empirical evidence and trend analysis.
This meeting is aimed at business leaders and academics.Public officials and professionals interested in strategic foresight and building resilient futures sought to provide attendees with concrete tools for long-term planning, answering the fundamental question: "How can we prepare today for the challenges of tomorrow?"
Margarita Rodríguez, Dean of the Engineering Area, She congratulated the teacher for promoting this initiative and encouraged it to be carried out in other academic and social spaces to continue highlighting the usefulness of this topic for making conscious decisions at the national level.
Guillermo Gándara, executive director of the Ibero-American Foresight NetworkShe reiterated the importance of this topic and encouraged the audience to be receptive and share their thoughts throughout the conference. “We are at a crucial moment for our region; the challenges of tomorrow are knocking on our doors today. Climate change, digital transformation, and social inequalities make it urgent to build more sustainable and equitable development models,” she added.
Jan Hurwitch, executive director of the FEV, She spoke about building a future from the present using the tools that foresight provides in all areas. “You are going to take a journey into the future in this session, and I don't know a better person than Mildred Sena to accompany you on this journey,” she affirmed.
During her presentation, Sena addressed the importance of considering foresight in building a more sustainable future for the country. “Foresight shows us the way, and sustainability helps us avoid damaging it. One teaches us to anticipate. The other, to care. Together, they transform the future into a constructed possibility, not an accident,” the environmental consultant stated.
He also reflected on its application at the educational, business, and governmental levels. “Foresight strengthens sustainability when education teaches us to anticipate changes before they occur. (…) International experience shows that organizations that incorporate foresight achieve more sustainable decisions, more robust governance, and a greater capacity to adapt to global changes,” he said.
He added that “Companies that embrace foresight don’t just analyze the future: they use it as a strategic tool to strengthen their sustainability and transform their business model.”
The event, which represented a strategic reflection to guide present action with the light of possible futures, had the participation of academic, social and governmental authorities, including Soraya Aquino, Founding President of the Christian Solidarity Party (PSC); Coralis Aquino, deputy, Solhanlle Bonilla, director of Research and Environmental Economics of the Ministry of Environment, and Janet Báez, coordinator of Digital Media of the Circle of Health Journalists (CIPESA).
From INTEC, Carlos Sanlley, Director of Research, Rosaura Pimentel, Coordinator of the INTEC Climate Change and Resilience Observatory (OCCR INTEC), teachers and students from the community were present.
About Mildred Sena
Sena is a doctoral candidate in Environmental Sciences, a research professor at INTEC, and a member of the Ibero-American Network of Foresight (RIBER). She specializes in planning with uncertainty scenarios and holds master's degrees in Education and Management and Productivity. She also coordinates the Caribbean region for the Visionary Ethics Foundation (FEV), an organization that promotes Future Laboratories to democratize foresight and contribute to building more inclusive, just, and sustainable communities.
Organizing institutions
INTEC It is a Dominican private, non-profit, public-service institution of higher education, founded in 1972 by a group of academics committed to the social transformation of the country and the continuous improvement of the quality of life of its inhabitants. It is characterized by the innovation and complementarity of its academic offerings in the areas of Engineering, Business, Health Sciences, Basic and Environmental Sciences, and Social Sciences and Humanities.
RIBER It is a non-profit, pluralistic, and non-partisan public interest organization, open to the voluntary participation of Ibero-American individuals and institutions interested in Futures Studies and Strategic Foresight. Its objective is to create a community of experts to analyze and exchange information on foresight in the different countries of the region.
La Visionary Ethics Foundation It is a non-profit organization based in Costa Rica dedicated to issues of poverty, justice, and the environment. Its director, Jan Hurwitch, is the founder of the organization Mujeres en Desarrollo Dominicana (MUDE) in the Dominican Republic.
