Forecasting the output of high-tech industry in China: A novel nonlinear grey time-delay multivariable model with variable lag parameters

Under the rapidly developing economy in China, accurate forecasting holds vital significance for policymaking and operational planning within the high-tech industry. However, the influencing factors affecting the output, accompanied by the time-delay effect, could be nonlinear, and uncertain. Thereby, this paper proposes a new nonlinear grey multivariable model with time-varying lag parameters. To be specific, the newly designed time delay function and power exponent are introduced, which can significantly enhance the adaptability and flexibility of the proposed method. The Grey Wolf Optimization algorithm is utilized to calculate the dynamic time lag parameters and power exponent to improve the prediction reliability. Furthermore, this new approach is applied to predict the high-tech industry’s output in China, Shanghai Municipality, and the Eastern Region, with due consideration given to the time-delay effect between input factors and outputs. To assess its efficacy, some leading models are selected for comparison to the proposed model. Furthermore, the utilization of Monte-Carlo simulation, the Probability Density Analysis, and the simulations are used to demonstrate the robustness and stability of this new method. The findings show that the proposed model is a feasible and applicable approach for prediction, exhibiting outstanding accuracy.