Forecasting Impact

Most forecasting goals focus solely on accuracy, but Harrison Katz reveals why understanding the true purpose of forecasts can transform how organizations make decisions. From leading Airbnb’s demand predictions to academic research, he uncovers the nuanced role forecasts play beyond numbers—and why misaligned goals and governance can distort the entire process. In this episode, Harrison shares his nonlinear journey from dropping out of high school at 15 to leading Airbnb’s forecasting strate...

In this episode of Forecasting Impact, hosts Mahdi Abolghasemi and Mariana Menchero speak with Marco Peixeiro, applied data scientist at Nixtla, about the growing importance of explainability in time series forecasting. Marco shares how his work bridges research and practice, from developing deep learning models in NeuralForecast to writing educational resources that make complex forecasting concepts accessible to all. We discuss how explainability builds trust in complex models, the role of ...

This episode of Forecasting Impact features Professor Lauren B. Davis discussing her research on applying stochastic modeling and forecasting to food bank operations. Lauren shares how she began forecasting with a local food bank, which led her to focus on forecasting the highly uncertain supply of food donations. She details the food banks' donation sourcing process, the management of their supply chains, and the application of models like exponential smoothing, support vector regression, an...

In this episode, Dr. Laila Akhlaghi and Professor Bahman Rostami-Tabar host a discussion on healthcare product forecasting in Eastern Africa with Harrison Mariki from Tanzania and Danielson Kennedy Onyango from Kenya. Harrison, founder of Afya Intelligence, discusses leveraging AI to improve forecasting for 7,000 primary healthcare facilities in Tanzania, addressing data quality and supply chain challenges. Ken, from inSupply Health, highlights the use of open-source tools and human-centered ...

In this episode, hosts Arian Sultan and Laila Akhlaghi discuss financial tools that enable healthcare markets to function more efficiently and how forecasting plays an important role in their execution with Hema Srinivasan of MedAccess. Hema Srinivasan is a senior advisor to MedAccess, supporting work to identify and execute opportunities for financial tools to help lower prices and increase the availability of medical products. She supports the Health Markets team in sourcing and developing ...

In this episode, hosts Mariana Menchero and Faranak Golestaneh explore the cutting-edge world of foundation models for time series forecasting with guests Azul Garza Ramírez, cofounder of Nixtla, and Mononito Goswami, one of the developers of MOMENT, a family of open-source foundation models for general-purpose time series analysis. In this episode, we discuss the guests' transition into working with foundation models for time series forecasting. The guests describe the empirical approa...

In this episode, we had the privilege of hosting Mitchell O'Hara-Wild, data scientist and lead developer of the widely used and highly acclaimed forecasting packages, Fable and Feasts. Mitchell is a PhD candidate at Monash University, Australia. He shared insights on a wide range of topics, including his journey into data science and forecasting, the reasons behind the development of the popular Fable package, and his views on AI in forecasting. We also discussed Mitchell’s rese...

In this episode, we spoke to Laurent Ferrara, Professor of International Economics at SKEMA Business School. Laurent discussed the role of nowcasting, particularly in the realm of macroeconomic nowcasting. He delved into the details of the models and methods that have been proven effective in this domain. Laurent also talked about GDP nowcasting using Google data and shared some intriguing results from his recent research. Laurent is the program chair of the 44th International Symposium on F...

Our guests are Michele Trovero, leader of the Forecasting R&D group at SAS, and Spiros Potamitis, Data Scientist and Product Marketing Manager at SAS. We delved into the intriguing intersection of Language Model-based AI (LLMs) and forecasting software. We explored the openness of forecasting software providers to embrace LLMs and discussed the profound impact these models could have on the industry. Michele and Spiros shared insightful examples of LLM applications. They elaborated on ...

In this episode, we delved into the dynamic realm of transportation forecasting, exploring a wide array of ideas and questions. Our discussion with David began by examining the primary data sources and methodologies that drive modern transportation forecasting. We continued by highlighting the pivotal role of real-time data, GPS technology, and advanced algorithms in providing accurate insights into traffic patterns, public transit ridership, and the trajectory of mobility trends. ...

In this episode, we delve into the inspiring academic journey of two sisters from the heart of Sri Lanka. Dr Priyanga Dilini Talagala and Dr Thiyanga Talagala. Dr Priyanga is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Moratuwa, specialising in statistical machine learning and data mining, with a fervent commitment to open-source software for reproducible research. Dr Thiyanga is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, focusing on large-scale time series forecasting, data visua...

In this episode, we had the honour of having three guests on our panel: Prof Rob Hyndman, Professor of Statistics from Monash University, Federico Garaz, CTO and co-founder of Nixtla, and Eric Stellwagen, CEO and Co-founder of Business Forecast Systems. We discussed a range of topics on the role of software in forecasting, the latest status, and future trends in forecasting software. The panel shed light on the importance of incorporating operational information in software and integra...

Scott Cunningham is Professor of Public Policy at the University of Strathclyde and is the Editor-in-Chief of the journal, Technological Forecasting & Social Change. In this episode, we talked about technological forecasting and social change. Prof. Cunningham gave an overview of how technological forecasting, policy, and business are interwoven, and how a systematic view is important in predicting the long-term pattern in technology. He described the broader context of tech mining,...