Forecasting and its Beneficiaries

TL;DR

This paper explores the beneficiaries of forecasting, discusses barriers to expanding its impact, and reviews initiatives and communication strategies to enhance forecasting's societal benefits.

Contribution

It analyzes who benefits from forecasting, identifies barriers, and evaluates the Democratising Forecasting initiative to improve stakeholder communication and societal impact.

Findings

Forecasting can benefit diverse societal groups.

Barriers include communication gaps and limited accessibility.

The Democratising Forecasting initiative has achieved notable progress.

Abstract

This chapter addresses the question of who benefits from forecasting, using Forecasting for Social Good as a motivating framework. Barriers to broadening the base of beneficiaries are identified, and some parallels are drawn with similar concerns that were expressed in the Operational Research literature some years ago. A recent initiative, called Democratising Forecasting, is discussed, highlighting its achievements, challenges, limitations and future agenda. Communication issues be-tween the major forecasting stakeholders are also examined, with pointers being given for more effective communications, in order to gain the greatest benefits