Prosthetic technology specialist Össur has gained support from Scottish Enterprise to support partial hand technologies and enable the development of a new upper limb device.

The company has received a research and development grant of £400,000 towards a total project of £2million that will develop new products to add to its range of upper limb solutions.

Scottish Enterprise is a non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government which encourages economic development, enterprise, innovation and investment in business.

Scottish Enterprise managing director of innovation and investment Jane Martin said: “Scottish Enterprise has supported the company over many years from its early days as a spinout. Össur’s plans to further develop a range of prosthetic hand solutions to improve the mobility of people across the world is truly inspirational and is also a great example of how an acquisition can boost business growth in Scotland.

“Össur’s investment and next-level product development highlights how purpose-driven companies can transform lives, grow our economy, and Scotland’s international reputation as a place to innovate and scale your business.”

Innovation Minister Richard Lochhead visited the company’s new 30,000 sq ft site in Livingston, Scotland, on Wednesday 6 September to learn how Össur’s prosthetics products enable people to carry out tasks like reaching for a book or a loved one’s hand to hold.

Mr Lochhead met with a user of the prosthetic products and the team of Össur engineers involved in building innovative prosthetic hand solutions. He said: “I welcome the latest investment by Össur, on behalf of Touch Bionics, at its Livingston facility and its ongoing partnership with Scottish Enterprise, who have provided Research & Development funding for the project.

“Our National Innovation Strategy places a strong focus on technologies where we can be demonstrably world leading, with Healthtech being a key target. But as well as this being positive news for the local economy and an important step for Scotland’s innovation sector, this project also offers the prospect of enhancing people’s lives, making it an even more valuable contribution to not just our economy, but our society.”

Össur develops, manufactures and sells non-invasive equipment for orthopaedics, including bracing and support products, compression therapy, and upper and lower limb prosthetics. It also hosts webinars featuring clinical solutions and product insights to assist with daily clinical practice.

Össur Vice President of R&D upper limb prosthetics Hugh Gill said: “This grant allows additional engineers to join Össur to continue developing unique products supporting individuals to live ‘Life Without Limitations’ as is our motto. We are delighted with the support we have had from Scottish Enterprise on our journey to improve people’s mobility.”

An assistive technology prototype that gives ‘sense of touch’ haptic feedback to amputees is set to be improved with a series of at-home trials.

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