Special Session 9: Developing Future-Ready Innovation Competencies through Foresight and AI-Enhanced Education

 Description 

Rapid technological, economic, environmental, and societal transformations require education to prepare students not only to address current challenges but also to anticipate change, identify emerging opportunities, and develop responsible and innovative solutions. Foresight and artificial intelligence offer complementary capabilities for achieving this goal: foresight provides systematic approaches for exploring trends and alternative futures, while AI can enhance information discovery, analysis, ideation, experimentation, and decision-making.
This special session will provide an interdisciplinary forum for researchers, educators, instructional designers, and industry practitioners to examine how foresight and AI-enhanced education can contribute to the development of future-ready innovation competencies. These competencies include opportunity identification, critical and systems thinking, creativity, technological awareness, strategic decision-making, collaboration, and the ability to transform evidence into valuable solutions.
The session welcomes theoretical, empirical, and practice-based contributions addressing the integration of horizon scanning, trend analysis, scenario development, technology mapping, technology roadmapping, and scientific and patent information analysis into educational environments. It also invites research on how generative AI and other emerging technologies can support these processes while preserving human judgment, ethical responsibility, and intellectual rigor.
Diverse teaching-learning approaches are encouraged, including challenge-based, project-based, collaborative, experiential, interdisciplinary, and problem-based learning. Contributions may also examine methods for assessing innovation and foresight competencies through analytical rubrics, portfolios, learning analytics, performance-based assessments, and pre–post evaluation designs.
By integrating foresight and artificial intelligence into innovation education, this session seeks to advance evidence-based educational models that empower learners to anticipate emerging changes, envision alternative futures, and develop responsible solutions to complex technological, organizational, environmental, and societal challenges.

 Session Topics 

The topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
- Foresight and future-oriented competencies in education
- AI-enhanced pedagogical approaches for developing innovation competencies
- Horizon scanning, trend analysis, and opportunity identification for learning
- Scenario development and technology roadmapping in educational contexts
- Competitive and Technology Intelligence as a foundation for innovation learning
- Challenge-based, project-based, collaborative, and experiential learning approaches for innovation
- Assessment of foresight and innovation competencies
- Responsible and ethical use of AI in future-oriented education

 Submission Method 

Submit your Full Paper or your paper abstract-without publication (200-400 words) via Online Submission System, then choose Special Session 9 (Developing Future-Ready Innovation Competencies through Foresight and AI-Enhanced Education)

 Session Organizers 

Prof. Marisela Rodríguez Salvador,
Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico
 
Dr. Marisela Rodríguez Salvador holds a PhD in Business Administration and Management, awarded Summa Cum Laude by the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Spain. She is a professor at the School of Engineering and Sciences at Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico, and holds Level III—the highest distinction—within Mexico’s National System of Researchers (SNII). Dr. Rodríguez Salvador belongs to the Distinctive Circle of Professors at Tecnológico de Monterrey. She is also the founder and head of the Competitive and Technology Intelligence for Innovation Unit, established in 2001. Through this unit, she has supported more than 100 organizations worldwide in strengthening their innovation strategies and decision-making processes.
Her expertise encompasses foresight, Competitive and Technology Intelligence, scientometrics, patent analytics, technology mapping, technology roadmapping, innovation management, and emerging technology assessment. Her research integrates scientific, technological, competitive, and market intelligence to identify innovation opportunities across healthcare, biotechnology, food, manufacturing, advanced materials, education and other strategic sectors, including the integration of innovative educational technologies.
Dr. Rodríguez Salvador has extensive experience in higher education and educational innovation. Her teaching incorporates challenge-based, collaborative, and technology-enhanced learning to develop students’ innovation, critical thinking, and strategic decision-making competencies. She holds a professional certification in collaborative learning and has designed educational interventions involving generative AI, analytical rubrics, and competency-based assessment.
She has presented her research and innovative teaching practices at various international conferences focused on teaching-learning, and emerging technologies. Recently, she served as Session Chair at the 7th International Conference on Education and E-Learning (ICEEL 2023) in Japan and received the Best Presentation Award at the International Conference on Education Technology and Computers (ICETC 2025) in Spain.