{"id":7337,"date":"2021-05-03T21:07:07","date_gmt":"2021-05-03T17:07:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.uaehumanjourney.com\/?p=7337"},"modified":"2025-04-18T10:22:32","modified_gmt":"2025-04-18T06:22:32","slug":"museum-of-the-future-in-dubai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uaehumanjourney.com\/en\/2021\/05\/03\/museum-of-the-future-in-dubai\/","title":{"rendered":"UAE showcases the new era through the Museum of the Future in Dubai"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_73 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.uaehumanjourney.com\/en\/2021\/05\/03\/museum-of-the-future-in-dubai\/#Visions_of_a_Modern_Nation\" title=\"Visions of a Modern Nation\">Visions of a Modern Nation<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.uaehumanjourney.com\/en\/2021\/05\/03\/museum-of-the-future-in-dubai\/#Museum_of_the_Future\" title=\"Museum of the Future\">Museum of the Future<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.uaehumanjourney.com\/en\/2021\/05\/03\/museum-of-the-future-in-dubai\/#Innovation_and_the_Museum_of_the_Future\" title=\"Innovation and the Museum of the Future\">Innovation and the Museum of the Future<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Mohammad Al Gergawi to <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2016\/03\/02\/imagine-a-minister-of-youth-whos-actually-young-united-arab-emirates-middle-east\/\">Foreign policy<\/a>: UAE is erecting a \u201cMuseum of the Future&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Sitting on the 51st floor of the Emirates Tower in Dubai, it is possible to imagine you are floating above the Emerald City of Oz. The soaring towers of the city include the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.burjkhalifa.ae\/en\/the-tower\/ObservationDecks.aspx\">Burj Khalifa<\/a>\u00a0(the world\u2019s tallest building), and the architectural darling of the city\u2019s buildings evokes a sense of tomorrow in a way that no city in the \u201cWestern world\u201d can rival. In fact, it\u2019s really only this city \u2014 and a handful of the modernist urban wonders of China \u2014 that suggests the kind of promise, daring, and innovation with the same twisting, glistening vibrancy.<\/p>\n<p><!--moress \u0642\u0631\u0627\u0621\u0629 \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0632\u064a\u062f--><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Visions_of_a_Modern_Nation\"><\/span>Visions of a Modern Nation<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The office that offers this view belongs to <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.uaehumanjourney.com\/2021\/04\/16\/biography-of-mohammad-al-gergawi\/\">Mohammad Al Gergawi<\/a>, the United Arab Emirates\u2019 minister of cabinet affairs. At 52, Gergawi, who went to college in the United States, is an example of the unique cadre of government innovators who have set the UAE apart from any nation in the Middle East, placing it atop the very small group of the world\u2019s most imaginative and successful governments.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Looking down from his office, Al Gergawi points to a six-lane highway below that runs as one of the major arteries through Dubai, a road pulsing with late model cars in a city that is now home to the world\u2019s busiest airport, many of its best-known companies, and one of the most remarkably diverse and international communities on the planet. (An estimated <a href=\"http:\/\/www.state.gov\/j\/drl\/rls\/irf\/2013\/nea\/222317.htm\">89 percent<\/a>\u00a0of UAE residents are noncitizens.)<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cI remember when the country was founded, in 1971, traveling down that road. We were driving from Dubai to Abu Dhabi,\u201d Gergawi tells me. \u201cBut it was not a paved road back then. We had to travel it in a Land Rover. I was a little boy and sitting in the back seat, and we were bouncing around so I enjoyed that. But it is a reminder. This is a very young country.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Museum_of_the_Future\"><\/span>Museum of the Future<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/httpsuaevisionary.com\/2021\/05\/29\/meet-the-uae-minister-mohammad-al-gergawi\/\">Mohammad Al Gergawi<\/a>, working with the prime minister of the UAE, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and other members of the country\u2019s senior leadership helped shape the recent government reforms. Among the features of the reforms was the creation of a new Ministry of Tolerance and a Ministry of Happiness. The minister of youth named in the reforms is 22 years old. The announcements were made by the prime minister via Twitter. He explained the rationale behind them in an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/pulse\/why-ministers-happiness-tolerance-youth-future-bin-rashid-al-maktoum\">article<\/a>\u00a0he posted on LinkedIn.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">That said, it is rich, hypocritical, and cynical of those critics in the West to adjudge these latest reforms (and the long line of innovations introduced by the Emiratis) as anything more than welcome experiments in a search for producing a successful state in a region that, at least in recent memory, has had a very unfortunate track record in areas of governance.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Some four decades after its founding, the recent government reforms included the placement of eight women to the federal cabinet of 29 ministers, including the 22-year-old Minister of Youth Shamma al-Mazrui, who holds degrees from Oxford University and New York University Abu Dhabi. Having a youth minister who can actually relate to young people in a world in which one of the great challenges is millennials\u2019 distrust of institutions is in itself a bold and long-overdue step that other countries would do well to emulate.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-7340 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.uaehumanjourney.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Shamma.jpg\" alt=\"Museum of the Future, Minister of Youth Shamma al-Mazrui and Sheikh Mohammad \" width=\"840\" height=\"472\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Minister of Youth Shamma al-Mazrui and Sheikh Mohammad<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Seventy-plus percent of those enrolled in university in the UAE are women.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The country has recently initiated reforms that have dramatically increased the role of women in parliament and required the participation of women on boards. It has many examples of the outstanding performance of its women to cite: from media CEO Noura al-Kaabi,\u00a0one of\u00a0FP\u2019s 2013 Global Thinkers, to fighter pilot\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2014\/09\/25\/world\/meast\/uae-female-fighter-pilot\/\">Maj. Mariam al-Mansouri<\/a>\u00a0to the lead scientist on the country\u2019s ambitious project to send a probe to Mars by 2021,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.thenational.ae\/uae\/have-hope-will-travel-uae-mars-team-has-6-years-to-reach-goal\">Sarah Amiri<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">All this in a country where, during the year of its founding in 1971, there were a few dozen residents who had a university degree. But education has become such a priority that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Sorbonne, and NYU have all opened campuses there, as have organizations like the Cleveland Clinic, in part because they believed in the quality of the education and training of the locals on which they would depend. Today, the UAE ranks higher than any other country in the Middle East in educational attainment of all students, 45th in the world.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">But by other metrics, the country also does well. The tiny country of 10 million ranks 30th in the world by GDP, according to the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/data.worldbank.org\/indicator\/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD?order=wbapi_data_value_2014+wbapi_data_value+wbapi_data_value-last&amp;sort=desc\">World Bank<\/a>. In the World Economic Forum\u2019s 2015-2016\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/reports.weforum.org\/global-competitiveness-report-2015-2016\/competitiveness-rankings\/\">Global Competitiveness Index<\/a>, it ranks 17th. The WEF also ranked the country fourth in the world in terms of infrastructure, second on the planet in terms of air transport infrastructure, and first for roads.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-7345\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.uaehumanjourney.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/dubai-skyline-night-uae-shutterstock_1196821177_8795f2fa55-1024x684.jpeg\" alt=\"Museum of future, Dubai city overview\" width=\"1024\" height=\"684\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to Mercer\u2019s 2016 Quality of Living\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imercer.com\/content\/mobility\/quality-of-living-city-rankings\">rankings<\/a>, Dubai and Abu Dhabi are not only the two highest ranked cities in the Middle East and North Africa, they also outrank all cities in Latin America and throughout the global south. Which brings us back to the UAE\u2019s recently announced reforms. The idea of a government focused on happiness is not new, of course.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The U.S. Declaration of Independence cited its pursuit as one of the country\u2019s founding objectives 240 years ago. Since the 1970s, the people of Bhutan have been seeking to measure and advance their Gross National Happiness. (Bhutan\u2019s prime minister, Tshering Tobgay, gave a particularly\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/2016\/02\/21\/467582508\/gross-national-happiness-bhutan-s-unique-measurement\">inspired talk<\/a>\u00a0on this at the most recent TED meetings in Vancouver.) And more recently, the United Nations has led an effort to look for better metrics by which to assess how well governments are meeting the elusive human needs of their people.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">This is not something new to the UAE either. Measuring happiness has been a goal of the government for years. In fact, measuring every aspect of the performance of their government has been a goal for years. The UAE was, to my knowledge, the first government in the world to rate \u2014 and later to rate in real time \u2014 the performance of ministers against key metrics set for them each year. Each day, ministers can look at an iPad that was given to them at their swearing in and see how they are performing versus all the other members of the cabinet in terms of meeting those goals.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The idea behind creating a Ministry of Tolerance is also much older than the ministry itself. The country was founded by its visionary first ruler, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, with principles of tolerance in mind. Educating women and treating them more equitably than any other country in the region was the first evidence of this. But this is a country that is home to many churches and even a synagogue.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Indeed, the UAE\u2019s crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, son of the founder, ordered a statue to tolerance \u2014 one that literally spelled out the word \u2014 placed in front of one of his offices to send a message about what a priority it is.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The same crown prince, one of the most thoughtful world leaders I have ever met, also last year delivered a speech that would have been revolutionary in every other oil-producing country. He declared that it was a goal of the nation to learn to live without oil. The country has already reduced oil as a percentage of its GDP to under 30 percent and is aiming to achieve a level below 20 percent by 2020.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">That is a radical commitment to diversification of the economy that shows the kind of foresight Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed\u2019s father demonstrated when he set up the world\u2019s first sovereign wealth fund just years after oil was discovered in the country.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Innovation_and_the_Museum_of_the_Future\"><\/span><strong>Innovation and the Museum of the Future<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Back in Al Gergawi\u2019s office, he tells me that just 51 floors below where we are standing, the country is erecting a \u201cMuseum of the Future.\u201d Gergawi has been placed in charge of future planning for the country. He sees it not just as an important mission but also as an expression of a national character focused on innovation. \u201cSometimes,\u201d he muses, \u201cI think that in addition to being a growing young country we also view ourselves as a laboratory.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-7342 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.uaehumanjourney.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Mohammad-Al-Gergawi-listens-to-architect-Shaun-Killa-as-he-describes-the-concept-of-the-Museum-of-the-Future-in-front-of-the-projects-model-1024x703.jpg\" alt=\"The plan for the museum of the Future in Dubai\" width=\"640\" height=\"439\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Al Gergawi listens to a briefing from architect Shaun Killa on the Museum of the Future\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">That attitude is certain to produce failures and controversy. In fact, they are built into the approach. As the country has tried to shift the way government services are delivered to citizens via apps \u2014 another area in which it is a world leader \u2014 the attitude has been much as it would be in Silicon Valley. Failures are seen as part of the process, something to be accepted as a price that is paid for innovation.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">At the same time, it is searching the world for best practices that can be embraced, a goal that it has institutionalized by convening for the past four years the most important conference in the world of top leaders discussing issues of national governance. It was coinciding with this event that the most recent round of reforms were announced.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">While critics and Emiratis and guests within the country may identify much work that remains to be done, one cannot come away from a visit to the UAE without being impressed with what has been achieved in a remarkably short period of time. Moreover, one cannot help but be struck by the degree to which many leading governments \u2014 including ours in the United States \u2014 would benefit from a similar commitment to innovation \u2026 not to mention one to tolerance and happiness.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <em><a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2016\/03\/02\/imagine-a-minister-of-youth-whos-actually-young-united-arab-emirates-middle-east\/\">Foreign policy<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mohammad Al Gergawi to Foreign policy: UAE is erecting a \u201cMuseum of the Future&#8221; Sitting on the 51st floor of the Emirates Tower in Dubai, it is possible to imagine you are floating above the Emerald City of Oz. The soaring towers of the city include the\u00a0Burj Khalifa\u00a0(the world\u2019s tallest building), and the architectural darling [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11999,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[13],"class_list":["post-7337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english-stories","tag-mohammad-al-gergawi"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uaehumanjourney.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uaehumanjourney.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uaehumanjourney.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uaehumanjourney.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uaehumanjourney.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7337"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uaehumanjourney.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7337\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12709,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uaehumanjourney.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7337\/revisions\/12709"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uaehumanjourney.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uaehumanjourney.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uaehumanjourney.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uaehumanjourney.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}