Contact lenses, biopharma filtration, crackers and mattresses - four manufacturers shared one stage at the Cámara de Comercio del Sur de PR's NexoSur 2026 convention in Ponce.^[1] CooperVision and Sartorius are multinationals that chose to produce on the island; Rovira Foods and Global Mattress are Puerto Rican companies that grew from here and now sell beyond it.^[2][3] InvestPR's Alexis Rivera Flores moderated.^[4] The panel's frame: whatever the industry or starting point, all four operate under the same U.S. regulatory and legal frameworks, the same workforce, and the same logistics.^[5] The convention opened at 9 a.m. at the Hilton Ponce Golf & Casino Resort.^[6] When CooperVision announced the Ponce expansion in October 2024, it said it would finish remodeling the former Roche Diagnostics site in the city within 12 months and equip it to manufacture one billion soft contact lenses a year for the global market.^[7][8] The project exceeds $100 million and, in its final phase, is expected to generate between 500 and 600 permanent jobs.^[9][10] The lens at the center of the plant is a patented product that slows the progression of myopia in children, carrying approvals from both the U.S. FDA and China's NMPA.^[11][12] Ponce won the production line over competing bids from Hungary, Costa Rica and New York.^[13] The 115,000-square-foot plant is a measure of the scale behind the panel's multinationals: CooperVision alone already employs more than 3,000 people in southern Puerto Rico, and its 2024 expansion plan put roughly $300 million of additional investment into its Juana Díaz operations.^[14][15][16]