One of the ways in which globalization is manifesting itself in higher education and research is through the increasing importance and emphasis on scientific mobility. This article seeks to provide an overview and analysis of current trends and policy tools for promoting mobility. The article argues that the mobility of scientific labour is an indispensable prerequisite for building capacity and world-class excellence. Many of the newly emerging economies have been able to leverage themselves to advantageous positions in the global scientific economy through the skilful deployment of international research networks. Mobility is still a mixed blessing since scientific labour, like other scarce resources, has a tendency to cluster towards the centre. However, given advances in communication technology and the presence of good research infrastructure, a core group of networked researchers can go a long way towards helping a country with modest scientific resources achieve world-class excellence.