With 2018's M4 Forecasting Competition behind us (although analysis, interpretation, and debate continue), the new M5 Competition starts March 2. Running through June 30, M5 is utilizing actual data provided by Walmart. It will be implemented using Kaggle's Platform, with $100,000 in prize money. Forecasting practitioners are encouraged to participate, as many of today's promising innovations are coming from industry.

Continue to search "M5 Forecasting Competition" to keep abreast as additional M5 details are released. And meantime, review M4 results and commentary in the dedicated International Journal of Forecasting M4 issue graciously made available online by the publisher Elsevier.

Announcing Launch of the Makridakis Open Forecasting Centre (MOFC)

January 21, 2020 marks the official launch of the Makridakis Open Forecasting Centre, at the University of Nicosia in Cyprus. Its mission is to conduct multidisciplinary research in the area of forecasting with emphasis on accuracy and uncertainty and to expand the utilization of forecasting to business firms. In addition to research (which includes organizing the M competitions), the MOFC will be offering an online Applied Forecasting Course:

The M Applied Forecasting Course is a six week online course, (next intake 10 February 2020) covering all types of forecasting, both time series and regression, offering concrete insight to businesses on how to improve their accuracy realistically estimating the uncertainty in their forecasts and its implications to risk. In additional to the traditional forecasting methods it also presents newer ones like Machine Deep and Cross Learning.

This is a great opportunity to learn forecasting directly from the source of so much of our present knowledge, Prof. Spyros Makridakis and his associates. The course is designed for executives in charge of finance, marketing, selling and operations as well as consultants. Find full details on cost and contents here.