The three biggest museum complexes in Germany – the State Museums of Berlin, the State Art Collections Dresden, and the Bavarian State Painting Collections in Munich – have offered to act as partners to the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority in the development of a new museum concept. This will not be based on the foundation of a branch museum, but will combine regional and international emphases in art, cultural history and science. The central idea for the concept is interplay between internationally operating museum institutes and a local team of competence in the realisation of exhibitions, the development of collections, and training in relevant museum professions. The study was produced in the name of the German museum partners and revised and developed in close agreement with the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority; it focused on content and organisation to equal degrees, and so presented an overall strategy for a project of this kind.