MSc(DDM) Expert Sharing Seminar Series -  Beyond the Numbers: The Evolution of Context-Aware Forecasting

We are excited to have Dr. Baochang WANG, AI & Data Science Expert at Guangdong China Unicom, to share the topic “Beyond the Numbers: The Evolution of Context-Aware Forecasting”.

All HKUST members are welcome to join.

Details are as follows.

Date: 17 November 2026 (Tuesday)
Time: Starts At 4:00 PM HKT
Venue: Lecture Theatre F, HKUST
Speaker: Dr. Baochang WANG, AI & Data Science Expert, Guangdong China Unicom
Moderator: Prof. Ding PAN, Professor, Department of Physics, HKUST

Seminar Overview:

Beyond the Numbers: The Evolution of Context-Aware Forecasting - Historically, forecasting relied solely on past numerical data: analyzing sales, traffic, or sensor logs to project future values. But in the real world, numbers alone can't anticipate external shocks. An unannounced policy shift, a severe weather alert, or an unexpected product launch alters future trends long before the numerical history can react. In this presentation, we’ll trace how backbones evolved from early statistical tools to modern architectures like PatchTST, iTransformer, and Mamba. We will examine how state-of-the-art models fuse text, visual inputs, and LLMs to reason over real-world context, avoid data leakage, and power high-stakes applications in health, finance, and smart grids. Finally, we'll look at the emerging frontier of context-aware agentic forecasters.


About the speaker: 

Dr. Baochang WANG, Ph.D., AI Expert with extensive experience leading end-to-end machine learning, time series forecasting, automated process discovery, and LLM implementations across automotive, retail, and tech sectors. Proven track record at multinational corporations (Volvo, ECCO, Complexio and ChinaUnicom) translating advanced algorithms—including LLM-driven event sequence and sales forecasting models—into enterprise-grade tools that delivered over millions RMB in direct cost reductions.

*Remarks:

1. This is a face-to-face seminar.

2. This seminar is open to all HKUST members.

3. Please be advised that photographs and videos will be taken and recorded during the event. By entering this event, you consent to photographs, audio recordings, and video recordings being used for news, promotional purposes, advertising, inclusion on websites, social media, or any other purpose by HKUST MSc in Data-Driven Modelling.