News

Ambassador for people with disabilities
Bettina Wulff is actively involved in competitive sports for people with disabilities at the London 2012 Paralympics (29 Aug. 2012 to 9 Sept. 2012). She and company owner Prof. Hans Georg Näder will welcome numerous international guests of honour from the world of sports, politics, and business on behalf of Otto Bock HealthCare, the German company that is the global leader in the technical orthopaedics market, providing 78 technicians for the 4,200 athletes from all over the world.

Burgturnier tournament offers a foretaste of the Paralympics
Otto Bock HealthCare GmbH presented a dressage test for handicapped riders as part of the Hardenberg Burgturnier this past weekend. Subsidised by the Northeim social and sports foundation, therapeutic riding offers a foretaste of the Paralympics in London.

Ottobock, the medical equipment company, is preparing for a large-scale operation at the Paralympic Games in London (29 Aug. to 9 Sept. 2012). 
Some 4,200 athletes are expected at the second largest sports event in the world. In order to ensure technical service for them, Ottobock is sending 78 orthopaedic technicians from 20 countries. The first vehicles are already transporting 9 tonnes of workshop equipment and around 15,000 spare parts from the company headquarters in Duderstadt to the Thames.

A twelve year-old from Myanmar receives a leg prosthesis from Ottobock – Foundation covers costs
San Myo from Myanmar is a bright and happy boy. Though the twelve year-old was born without the lower half of his left leg, the handicap doesn't keep him from playing football with friends. In order to help him walk, his father cobbled together a prosthesis using an old drain pipe. At the Ottobock facilities in Duderstadt, San Myo has now received a leg prosthesis that has been optimally tailored to his personal needs and living conditions. The costs for the fitting are covered by the Otto Bock Foundation.

Ottobock at Orthopädie + Reha-Technik 2012
Every two years, the world leading Orthopädie + Reha-Technik trade fair in Leipzig (16 to 18 May 2012) presents the latest medical technology developments for the benefit of people with limited mobility. This year the trade fair is also opening its doors to end users on all three days for the first time.

Special Exhibition Tours From Glasgow via Manchester to London
What Sir Guttmann began in Stoke Mandeville with war victims back in 1948 is returning to London as the world's second-largest sports event in 2012: the Paralympic Games. A special exhibition that will be travelling from Glasgow to Manchester and London provides a deeper understanding of the astounding performance and unique spirit behind this event.

Prof. Hans Georg Näder is the new chairman of the supervisory board of the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) effective immediately.
The 50-year-old is an entrepreneur and CEO of the Otto Bock group. "As an active deep-sea sailor and decades-long member of the global Paralympic family, clean sports are an integral part of my culture," said Näder on Tuesday after being elected for five years by the NADA supervisory board in Bonn.

Ottobock hand bikers at the forefront
On the way to the Paralympics in London, some of the best hand bikers in the world used the classic spring race in Korschenbroich to check their fitness levels. "At the international level, we see here the best that our City Race has to offer," says Hans-Peter Walther, the athletic director for the entire event, which, despite wind and rain, was watched directly on the track by 15,000 spectators on 22 April 2012. A unique atmosphere at the fourth-largest sporting event of its kind in Germany.

Opening with Premier McAllister
The ZHT Centre for Healthcare Technology of the PFH Private University of Göttingen combines orthopaedic expertise with scientific competence. It is a unique facility in the world and its goal is to raise the quality of patient care to a new level. The facility was officially opened on Monday, March 19, 2012, by the President of the PFH, Professor Dr. Bernt Sierke. Premier of Lower Saxony David McAllister, Professor Hans Georg Näder, CEO of Ottobock, and Professor Cornelius Frömmel, Dean of Göttingen University Medical Centre, welcomed the guests.

red dot award for Genium Leg Prosthesis System
Ottobock's Genium leg prosthesis system has been awarded the "red dot award: product design 2012" for the high quality of its design. More than 1,000 guests have been invited to the awards ceremony that will be held on July 2 at the red dot gala at the Aalto Theatre in Essen. After the event, the winning products will be on display for a four-week special exhibition in the red dot design museum in the former boiler house of the Zeche Zollverein.

Ottobock expands wheelchair production in Russia
Following its presidential elections, Russia has been in the news all over the world recently. Yet outside the political spotlight, exciting developments are underway for Ottobock in the country: in early 2011, the company received an inquiry from two Russian ministries. The order was for 100,000 wheelchairs, to be built in Russia over a period of four years for the local market.

Four iF awards for Ottobock Products
With the Triton prosthetic foot, the 3R93 therapy knee joint and the Genu Sensa knee support, no less than three Ottobock products have been recognised with the iF product design award 2012. Carbon fibre woven prepreg, a high-performance fibre composite material developed by Ottobock, also received the iF material design award.

Ottobock Supports Hanover Adventure Zoo
Free rides in the adventure zoo: the medical technology company Ottobock has donated ten new wheelchairs, which are made available to visitors free of charge, to the Hanover zoo.

Global Presence on Leading Video Platform
Ottobock is now represented with its own channel on the YouTube video portal. Visitors have access to a wide variety of Ottobock videos from the Prosthetics, Socket Technologies and Mobility Solutions divisions, clearly illustrating the benefits of our solutions.

Olympic stars such as world track and field athlete Sally Pearson and Paralympic hopefuls like Kelly Cartwright are preparing for London with a series of joint competitions during this Australian summer.
Both of them drew attention to themselves during the Qantas Australian Athletics Tour on 28 January in Adelaide. Pearson with two predominant wins in the 100 and 200 metres, Cartwright with a new world record for female transfemoral amputees in the 200 metres with a time of 35.98 seconds.

Having successfully passed their journeyman's examinations as prosthetists, all seven graduates are also guaranteed jobs.
They received advance confirmation from the companies that trained them, provided they passed in theory and practice. Everything went like clockwork with an average mark of 2.0. "A strong group" exulted Karl Becker, member of the examination commission and Education Manager at Ottobock, when he received the results.

Concise information on traumatology and modern rehabilitation concepts in Germany
The healthcare trade fair "Arab Health 2012" in Dubai will be preceded by the "2nd German-Arabic Symposium on Trauma Care". This event on 22 and 23 January 2012 brings together doctors, therapists, orthopaedic technicians and manufacturers in order to jointly discuss extended concepts for the care of trauma patients and their reintegration.

Svetlana's smile knows no bounds. She never seems to stop riding her new handbike.
She doesn't care that her jersey is much too thin and that the November winds are much too cold. Her joy outshines all adverse circumstances: Svetlana Moshkovich is sitting for the first time in the bike she hopes to ride to victory in the 2012 Paralympics.

Ottobock supports the initiative DU2012
Together with 30 other companies and media partners, Ottobock is supporting the initiative "Deutschland Unternehmerland 2012" (DU2012) for jobs and company founders. The aim of the Stiftung der deutschen Wirtschaft für Arbeit und Beschäftigung (SWAB – German business initiative for work and employment) is to allow founders, young businesses and innovation projects to network through the initiative and support them for the long-term with capital and specialists.

Anna Katharina Schaffelhuber, Gerd Schönfelder and the women's basketball team win the Ottobock trophies
On Saturday, November 26, 2011, the disabled athletes of the year were honoured at the German Sport and Olympics museum in Cologne. The award, presented by Otto Bock HealthCare, went to Anna Katharina Schaffelhuber and Gerd Schönfelder (both in alpine ski), and to the German national team in women's wheelchair basketball.

Development Partnership to boost education in Latin America
The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and Ottobock have joined forces to promote orthopedics technology education in Latin America. The Development Patnership is co-funded by the Programme develoPPP.de that is implemented by GIZ on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

"BestPersAward 2010/2011" for Otto Bock HealthCare
Otto Bock HealthCare has received the "BestPersAward 2010/2011" in recognition of its innovative, trendsetting human capital management activities. This employer competition is held every two years by the Institute for Management Competence at Saarbrücken University, recognising the best personnel concepts of SMEs.

Pedro Nel Ospina Vasquez Medal awarded for social responsibility
The "Colombian Society of Journalism and Media" has honoured Mario Buendia, Managing Director of Otto Bock Andina, and his team with the Pedro Nel Ospina Vasquez Medal for outstanding social responsibility. Mario Buendia accepted the award at the Columbian National Congress.

The Leonardo opened with a ribbon-cutting gala
The Leonardo – new, interactive museum that blends science, technology, and art – opened with a ribbon-cutting gala event October 6th, 2011.

Awards for high-performance fibre composite material by Otto Bock
The high-performance carbon fibre woven prepreg composite material developed by Otto Bock has received the MATERIALICA Design + Technology Award 2011 in gold. It was recently presented in Munich in the course of the MATERIALICA trade fair. The material is also being recognised with the iF material design award 2012.

GoldenEye-BtoB Photo Award for "diephotodesigner.de"
Dirk Dähmlow and Ken Schuchtmann have been honoured with the "GoldenEye-BtoB Photo Award" in the "Product" category for their unusual photo of the C-Leg® leg prosthesis system with the Triton prosthetic foot.

Helpers fight for refugees and locals weakened by hunger
The Garissa region, five hours from Kenya's capital of Nairobi, is among those hardest hit by catastrophic droughts across the horn of Africa. This is where the second medical team, which was sent to the crisis region by the aid organisation LandsAid e.V., has been deployed since 16 September 2011. The Otto Bock Foundation supported this project, which will take several more months, with a donation of EUR 5,000.

The ClickValve, a threadless valve closure system for transfemoral fittings, provides the alternative to flat rubber valves and screw valves.
The threadless design of the ClickValve greatly simplifies daily handling for the user. Thanks to a special opening mechanism, the valve is easy to open and close and can be readily inserted into the lower valve component due to its conical shape.

Otto Bock to unveil its London 2012 International Leadership Team at International Paralympic Day, London, 8th September 2011.
Otto Bock HealthCare, the Official Prosthetic, Orthotic and Wheelchair Technical Service Provider of the London 2012 Paralympic Games, is set to unveil the principal members of its International Leadership Team on International Paralympic Day (IPD) to be held at Trafalgar Square, London, on Thursday 8th September 2011.

Moving moments in the town hall and in front of the children's sanctuaries
There was a solemn, friendly, and emotional ceremony in the historic town hall on Saturday, September 3, 2011, honouring Professor Hans Georg Näder as a new honorary citizen of Duderstadt.

A dedicated family entrepreneur – the success story of a midsize enterprise
At the age of 28, Professor Hans Georg Näder took over as head of the Otto Bock Group from his father Dr. Max Näder. The father of two daughters Julia (20) and Georgia (14), he is now responsible for over 5,000 employees in 44 countries generating sales of approximately EUR 700 million in 2011.

5th place in the "Hidden Champions" ranking
In its August 22, 2011 edition, WirtschaftsWoche (WiWo), a German business news magazine, published a ranking it commissioned on the brand value of German "Hidden Champions" - with Otto Bock in 5th place, an outstanding achievement.

C-Leg® roadshow page on Facebook
Prepare to be impressed by an innovation that offers even greater freedom and safety. Whether for climbing stairs, walking on different surfaces or the optimised stumble recovery – the new C-Leg® offers stability and reliability to meet the challenges of everyday life. Would you like to find out more?