“Ontario’s strengths in research, innovation and entrepreneurship help us compete globally — and this mission will help us establish Ontario as a top innovation and knowledge economy partner for Israel,” Wynne said.

Ontario premier’s trade mission to Middle East to focus on research, life sciences

On the knowledge economy front, Cape Town’s universities play a role in attracting foreign companies looking for educated employees.

Rachel McLaughlin, local director of S-RM, a London-headquartered business intelligence firm, said this was the reason it had decided on Cape Town as a base in Africa.

African ‘centre of gravity’

According to the Lumnia Foundation, 59 percent of all jobs in Missouri will require some form of postsecondary education by 2018. In the St. Louis region, only 37.8 percent of adults have a postsecondary degree. The emergence of the “knowledge” economy increases the emphasis on postsecondary education.

Emerson grants $1M to STL Community College Foundation to fund STEM programs