IRELAND:Nobel prize winning economist Sir Clive Granger is the keynote speaker at a special economic symposium in the Institute of Technology, Tralee, Co Kerry, next Monday, September 8th.

The symposium is entitled "Is forecasting necessary?".

Sir Granger is one of the leading theorists in time series econometrics. This is a fundamental tool used throughout economic forecasting. Some of his tools have been used in forecasting by both the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) here in Ireland and the Central Banks of several states.

Along with Robert F. Engle of New York University he shared the 2003 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.

Other speakers include Dr Shoumen Datta from the school of engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Dr Grace Lin, chief technology officer at International Business Machines (IBM), and Prof Fionn Murtagh, director of Science Foundation Ireland.