Artificial Intelligence (AI), coupled with big data analytics, could help industries to grow their businesses by understanding their customers better and offering them more customised services, said experts. "The manufacturing sector generates maximum amount of data than any other industrial sector and AI is enabling us to correlate and understand it in a much more meaningful manner," Ismail Abdulla, chief executive of Strata Manufacturing, which is owned by Abu Dhabi's strategic investment company Mubadala Investment Company, told The National. "Understanding this data, through AI applications, has eventually helped us to overcome various challenges in the past." The big data and analytics software market, which in 2017 reached $54.1 billion globally, is expected to grow at a five-year compound annual growth rate of 11.2 per cent, according to International Data Corporation. It has also predicted AI spending to reach $52.2bn in 2021.