Dubai has announced plans to build an oval ring-shaped "Museum of the Future" to showcase innovation and solutions to challenges facing cities of the coming decades, said a report.

The new facility will actively produce futuristic inventions and support the UAE’s mission to be a global innovation engine. It will host innovation labs focusing on health, education, smart cities, energy and transport, reported the Gulf News.

The museum is to be built on a grassy hill near the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest tower, with a Dh500-million- ($136-million) price tag. Its curved, steel-clad exterior will feature the Arabic poetry of Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, it added.

The construction on the museum, located next to Dubai’s Emirates Towers near the emirate's central financial district, is set to start this week and finish in 2017, said media reports citing UAE's Minister of Cabinet Affairs Mohammed Al Gergawi.

As well as providing a permanent home for the world’s greatest innovations, the museum will work to stimulate and incubate imaginative solutions to the challenges of future cities, said the report.

It will bring together the brightest researchers, designers, inventors and financiers under one roof. This integrated environment will empower these creative minds to test, fund and market their ideas for futuristic prototypes and services, it stated.

Speaking at the launch ceremony, Shaikh Mohammad said: "The future belongs to those who can imagine it, design it, and execute it. Here in the UAE we think differently. While others try to predict the future, we create it."
 
The museum’s motto, ‘See the future, create the future’, reflects a new approach to government innovation, he stated.

Rather than just displaying exhibits or publishing reports, the new institution will use design, technology prototyping and foresight to create real examples of change. The museum is the first of its kind, and represents a leading example of entrepreneurial governments embracing change and creating futuristic visions for a better world, said the UAE premier.

The structure will incorporate bespoke technology including major sections built using 3D printing construction techniques. Its striking architecture will help the museum to stand out as a destination for those seeking inspiration, he added.