Gov. Haley Barbour said Thursday Mississippi State's innovative leadership in computational technology is helping the state and nation become more competitive in the global economy. "We're in a world economy that is driven by innovation through technology," Barbour told an audience at the official opening of a new $6 million addition to the university's High Performance Computing Collaboratory. "Mississippians are already working hard, so we have to increase productivity by helping our people work smarter," he said prior to a 10 a.m. ribbon-cutting. "Almost all of that is dependent on computational capacity. "Many people don't know that we have access to phenomenal amounts of computer technology that is allowing Mississippi to be competitive in the global market place," the governor added. "In fact, it's helping drive America's competitiveness." About 300 MSU faculty, staff and supporters turned out for the event at the new 28,000-square-foot expanded facility in the Thad Cochran Research, Technology and Development Park just north of the Starkville campus. The program was among a variety of campus events preceding MSU's 7 p.m. home football opener against South Carolina. Congressman Chip Pickering, R-Miss., MSU President Robert H. "Doc" Foglesong, Bagley College of Engineering Dean Kirk Schulz, and HPC2 operations board chair David Shaw joined Barbour on the podium. Staff members also represented the offices of U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran and Rep. Roger Wicker, both R-Miss. Pickering said MSU's high-performance computer capacity--coupled with that of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers division in Vicksburg, Jackson State University and the University of Mississippi--already has established Mississippi as a "world-class leader" in the scientific field. The MSU collaboratory--formerly called the Engineering Research Center--consistently ranks among the world's "Top 500 Supercomputing Sites" as listed biannually by the universities of Tennessee and Mannheim (Germany). "This is about a team effort," Foglesong said in praising the support MSU has received from the governor's office and members of the state's congressional delegation. "It's not just about Mississippi State," he added. "It's about the state of Mississippi. We're going to continue down the path of excellence in research." The HPC2 consortium includes five centers focused on multidisciplinary computational science and engineering research, and education collaboration. The centers now generate more than $43 million annually from federal agencies and industry. The units include the centers for Advanced Vehicular Systems, Computational Sciences and Department of Defense Programming Environment and Training, as well as the Computational Simulation and Design Center and the GeoResources Institute.