With more than $30 million in total funding, The University of Southern Mississippi's Innovation and Commercialization Park is poised to transform south Mississippi into a haven for high-tech, high paying jobs.

From Meridian to New Orleans, from Jackson to Gulfport, and from Mobile, Ala. to Natchez, the entire I-59 corridor has become a magnet for new technology companies. And with the planned Innovation and Commercialization Park, Southern Miss expects sustained economic growth by creating new laboratories, offices, and scale up facilities for joint University and industry projects that turn research into marketable products for new and expanded business ventures.

Senator Thad Cochran made certain the budget of the U.S. Department of Commerce included funding for a new $20 million building at the park site, currently under development off Highway 49 on Classic Drive in Hattiesburg. As the first building gets underway, the Innovation and Commercialization Park promises to make a positive, sustained, and dramatic impact on the economic landscape of the region.