HIA-LI trade show draws 2,000 to Suffolk County campus, spotlights economy

Nearly 2,000 people filled the Suffolk Credit Union Arena at Suffolk County Community College’s Brentwood campus for HIA-LI’s 38th annual business trade show and conference, turning the event into a live snapshot of Suffolk County’s economy. With nearly 400 exhibit spaces on the floor, the show brought together manufacturers, biotech firms, real estate businesses, educators and employment-service providers in one place.

That turnout mattered because it showed how much of Long Island’s business community still sees in-person networking as a competitive tool, not a relic. In a region where digital outreach is routine, the draw was the chance to meet decision-makers, compare services, and build relationships face to face among more than 350 booths, executive programming, breakout seminars and speed networking.

Gov. Kathy Hochul appeared by recorded video and tied the region’s growth strategy to water and sewer construction, downtown investment and partnership-driven development. Business attorney Joseph N. Campolo added broader economic context, saying Nassau and Suffolk together outpace 16 states in both population and gross domestic product, a reminder that Long Island’s two-county market functions like a midsize state economy.

The show also spotlighted the Long Island Innovation Park at Hauppauge, which HIA-LI president Terri Alessi-Miceli said includes about 1,300 companies. HIA-LI describes the park as the largest innovation park in the Northeast, with more than 55,000 employees and more than $13 billion in economic output, and a separate profile says it is the second-largest in the nation after Silicon Valley. Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine praised the park as a business center that helps create jobs, growth and prosperity, while Sarah Lansdale, chair of the Suffolk County Industrial Development Agency, underscored the role of public incentives in keeping investment moving.

The economic backdrop is mixed. The New York State Department of Labor said Long Island had 1,176,300 private-sector jobs and 1,380,200 total nonfarm jobs in April 2026, while federal labor data put the Nassau-Suffolk unemployment rate at 3.8 percent in the latest regional summary. At the same time, manufacturing remains under pressure, with 67,300 manufacturing jobs across Nassau and Suffolk in April, down 1,500 from a year earlier.

For Suffolk County, that makes events like this more than a business gathering. They connect Brentwood, Hauppauge, Wyandanch and Ronkonkoma Hub/South to the county’s broader development agenda, including transit-oriented development, water-quality improvements and downtown revitalization. HIA-LI says its next trade show is planned for May 2027 at the same Brentwood arena, and the crowd this year suggested the local economy still has plenty of interest in being built the old-fashioned way, through direct contact.