The Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Mipymes and the Universidad Iberoamericana (UNIBE) launched the Congress Seminar Workshop for Professionals of the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem of Latin America, 15st PRODEM 2026, which takes place at the Universidad Iberoamericana.
The event constitutes the main forum for articulation between the State, academia, and the private sector to energize the national productive fabric under a vision of sustainability and global competitiveness.
During the opening ceremony, the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Mipymes, Yayo Sanz Lovatón, presented a strategic vision on the determining impact of entrepreneurship on the country’s economic development.
The head of the institution emphasized that the Ministry’s participation as a strategic partner seeks to ensure that innovation is not an isolated effort, but a coherent public policy that strengthens the connection between academic rigor and business execution to strengthen the national ecosystem. In his speech, he reaffirmed that state support is essential to boost the creation of companies, highlighting that SMEs constitute the backbone of social stability:
“SMEs are the engine that sustains employment, energizes the economy, and builds development throughout the national territory. With more than 400 thousand establishments and more than 3 million employees, representing 61.6% of employment and a contribution to GDP of 32%, entrepreneurship must be consolidated as a national priority due to its direct impact on productivity.”
More Read
He emphasized that Dominican entrepreneurs need, in addition to passion and creativity, a solid legal, academic, and social framework that allows them to grow with institutional support. In that regard, he announced the ministry’s willingness to renew and deepen cooperation agreements with UNIBE, extending them to new areas of research and innovation.
However, Sanz Lovatón was emphatic in pointing out that sustainable growth faces a structural challenge: formalization. For the official, this process is a necessary and unavoidable condition to improve access to financing and allow business scalability. Under this framework, he valued the role of PRODEM as a strategic space to connect capabilities, learn from the best practices in the region, and accelerate the definitive transformation of the entrepreneurial ecosystem of the Dominican Republic.
Dr. Odile Camilo, rector of UNIBE, highlighted the institution’s commitment to entrepreneurship and innovation as a driving force for development, emphasizing the strategic alliance with the MICM, on this occasion to strengthen the regional entrepreneurial ecosystem during the 15ST-PRODEM. The rector highlighted the achievements and advances of the MICM-UNIBE alliance, especially the results of the scientific projects carried out that impact the formulation of comprehensive public policies for sustainable growth in the Dominican Republic.
More Read
Following this, Dr. Leandro Féliz-Matos, Dean of Innovation and Institutional Development, from UNIBE, gave the technical presentation of the congress, detailing the context of the PRODEM program in Latin America and the thematic axes that will guide this edition, which are focused on the articulation of capacities, the promotion of innovation and the fulfillment of strategic objectives that raise the profile of the Dominican Republic in the region. He also highlighted that during the 4 days of the congress, leading the conferences, panels and workshops will be outstanding experts from Europe, the United States, and Latin America; he also emphasized the networking opportunity that will be given among the participants, and the option of carrying out the certification of developer of the BID/PRODEM entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem within the event.
The official launch marks the beginning of a series of technical working tables that will precede the celebration of the Congress. With this joint effort, the MICM and UNIBE close the gap between academic training and public policy, establishing a roadmap for entrepreneurship to be the definitive engine of prosperity and institutional development in the Dominican Republic.
