Perhaps it is the gentle ocean breezes, the moderate climate, the quaint villages or the miles of sandy, white beaches. Whatever the reason, Long Islanders have long been inspired to achieve great things. It is here that Walt Whitman wrote much of his poetry and prose, Charles Lindbergh began his trans-Atlantic flight, and Grumman engineers built the Lunar Excursion Module that brought Neil Armstrong and his colleagues to the moon’s surface.

That tradition of excellence continues today. Long Island is home to 20 colleges and universities, cutting-edge research facilities, and tens of thousands of successful businesses, both large and small. Scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, one of the richest wellsprings of the science underlying biotechnology, are making startling strides in the fight against cancer. A company spawned in the Long Island High Technology Incubator at Stony Brook University, where the first MRI image in history was created, has developed the first virtual colonoscopy technology to be approved by the FDA. Brookhaven National Laboratory, where five Nobel Prizes have been won, is developing sensors, antidotes and vaccines in the fight against terrorism.

Coupled with this technological innovation is a keen business acumen that is leading the charge on product development.

Long Island is exceptional in many other ways. The region has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country, one of the highest per capita incomes and some of the best recreational areas. Money Magazine consistently ranks Long Island as one of the best places to live in the United States and its beaches are consistently named among the top in the nation.

Much of this is due to the strong economy built by the many successful businesses launched and grown right here. According to Sales & Marketing Management magazine's 2003 Survey of Buying Power and Media Markets, 114,432 businesses establishments are located on Long Island, ranking 16th highest among the nations 922 metro markets . They come here not just for the highly skilled and educated workforce, but for the natural beauty and geographic diversity that help them recruit and keep key employees. Long Island is also prosperous, with a median household effective buying income of $54,492, ranked fifth out of 323 markets nationwide, according to the 2003 Survey of Buying Power, where the US median is $38,035.

"Long Island is a microcosm of the entire nation," says Lee Koppelman, director of the Long Island Regional Planning Board and the Center for Regional Policy Studies at SUNY Stony Brook. "In many communities, you have an urban city or a suburban area or a rural area. On Long Island we have all three."

It is that diversity that many of Long Island's 2.7 million residents find appealing. From the urban areas of Hempstead and Mineola in the west to the farms and wineries of the North Fork, Long Island offers something for everyone. Housing - from renovated Levitt houses to palatial estates on Nassau County's north shore and summer homes in the Hamptons - is just as diverse as the landscape.

"The environment here is varied, from the beach communities to the New England atmosphere," says Roslyn Goldmacher, president and CEO of Long Island Development Corporation, a not-for-profit corporation that provides financial and technical assistance to small businesses. "You've got everything from summer sports to winter sports. You've got theater and the arts all within driving distance. There aren't too many places that have that."

Perhaps that's why Long Island has been called home by such historical figures as Teddy Roosevelt and William Floyd; writers William Cullen Bryant, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Truman Capote, Michael Crighton, Nelson De Mille and others; entertainers Harry Chapin and Billy Joel; and business leaders like Charles Wang, founder of Computer Associates, one of the largest software companies in the world. And perhaps that's why few regions can match the Long Island advantage.