Professor Spyros Makridakis is renowned as one of the world’s leading forecasting experts and organizer of the Makridakis Competitions. On behalf of Professor Makridakis, Director of the Institute For the Future (IFF), University of Nicosia (UNIC) it is an honor and a pleasure to introduce you to the Makridakis Forecasting Centre.
M 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 insights on how to improve the accuracy of their predictions, estimate uncertainty realistically and consider its implications to risk.
The most important advantage of the course is its emphasis on hands-on learning by persuading participants to use actual data to both predict and estimate the uncertainty of their forecasts and its implication to risk. This course will offer students the opportunity to harness 40 years of Professor Makridakis knowledge and experience and master forecasting, in six weeks. In addition, Nassim Nicholas Taleb will discuss fat-tails and their implications to uncertainty and risk while Dr. Vangelis Spiliotis will present popular forecasting software and how they can be used. There will also coverage of topics such as Machine Learning (ML), Deep Learning (DL), Cross Learning (CL) and forecasting for intermittent demand.
Forecasts are needed for setting up inventory levels, constructing production or delivery schedules and in all types of planning: from budgeting to strategic. This course covers all types of forecasts and offers concrete information on how to improve the accuracy of and assess the uncertainty of business predictions.
| Duration: | Workload: | Mode of Study: | Tuition: |
| 6 weeks | 10h/week | Self-paced online training | € 2,000 |
| Special Early Bird Price (until 31 December 2019) | € 1,420 | ||
Week 1: The Basis of Forecasting
Week 2: Data for Forecasting and the Assessment of Uncertainty
Week 3: Statistical Methods and Benchmarks
Week 4: Regression (Explanatory) and ML/DL Methods
Week 5: Statistical and ML/DL Forecasting Packages
Week 6: (a) Forecasting Applications (statistical/intermittent demand and ML/DL) (b) Fat-Tailed Uncertainty and Related Risks
EXPLOIT THE VALUE of forecasting to improve your future oriented decisions
LEARN ABOUT the findings of the M Competitions and how they can be applied to improve forecasting
BETTER UNDERSTAND and correctly assess future uncertainty and its implications to risk
CONSTANTLY UPDATE your knowledge with developments and live Q&A sessions with the instructors
Take advantage of the Early Bird Discount on course fees reducing tuition from €2,000 to €1,420 (until 31 December 2019) and receive a complimentary copy of Professor Makridakis Special Issue of the International Journal of Forecasting with its 35 papers describing all aspects of the M4 Competition. No previous statistical knowledge is required to follow this course.
M5 COMPETITION
The M5 Competition is the latest of the M Competitions (March 2 to 30 June 2020). The competition will use actual/authentic data made generously available by Walmart and will be implemented using Kaggle’s Platform. Given the large number of companies that have already shown interest in participating and the substantial $100,000 prize money, we estimate that the M5 Competition will attract more than 2,000 participants and teams to compete as well as a number of invited companies.
M5 CONFERENCE
Following the M5 Competition, the M5 Conference will present and analyze the findings of the most accurate winning forecasting methods as well as suggest how what has been learned from the competition can be implemented into future forecasting methods.
M5 PUBLICATION
Similar to the M4 Publication that includes 35 papers covering all aspects of the M4 Competition and Conference, there will be a special issue devoted to the M5 Competition & Conference, focusing on how what has been learned can be integrated and applied in practice, published in the International Journal of Forecasting. Practitioners will be invited to submit their articles, comments and suggestions on how future competitions can be improved.
The Makridakis Open Forecasting Centre (MOFC) is non-profit in nature and any financial sponsorships, contributions or donations will be used for forecasting research purposes to enhance future forecasting methods as well as for prizes for the M Competition winners.
Please follow the link to sign up for the M Applied Forecasting Course or get in touch for more information on how you can participate in the M5 Competition or Conference.
CONTACT:
Nick Assimenos
Manager, Institutional & Corporate Partnerships
Institute For the Future (IFF) at University of Nicosia (UNIC)
t +357 22 367203 m +357 99 620085