Dialog - the customer magazine of Otto Bock

Can you imagine a world without the comfort of wellstructured newspapers and magazines? Have you ever searched for something online and found everything except what you were looking for? There’s a downside to all this endless variety: you can get really tangled up and confused on the World Wide Web.

In this issue of Dialog, we introduce you to our new website, where information is not only easier to pinpoint. The site has also been redesigned with full disabled accessibility for today’s users in mind. From the home page, three areas for different target groups are just a click away: “Patients and users,” “Doctors and therapists” and “Customers and technicians.” Visit us on the Internet, where a world of new information about the company, our research and development activities, history and global network is awaiting you.

In this issue of DIALOG, we also fill you in on the market launch of the ActiGait®. Our first neuroimplant has been approved for the EU market and already been used on two patients with weak foot dorsiflexion. We have documented the progress of these patients on film as their new implants use healthy nerves to reactivate muscles and improve their gait pattern. The future of medical technology is upon us. For a glimpse of what’s in store, see this issue’s special feature by Dr. Klaus- Peter Hoffmann, Head of Medical Technology and Neuroprosthetics at the Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering in St. Ingbert, Germany.

This issue of DIALOG introduces you to people from all over the world. People like Daniela Dantcheva, who is doing admirable work for patients with disabilities in Bulgaria. Or Richie from Sulawesi, Indonesia, a 15-year-old victim of a terror attack who amazed our technicians by adjusting to his first transtibial prosthesis with such speed and skill.

It’s during moments like this that we realize how motivating technology can be for people. Not only for users, technicians and therapists, but for us as manufacturer as well. It was a great honor for us to be named a landmark in the “Land of ideas” by German President Horst Köhler. At our Future Day event on the 13th of July, 2007 in Duderstadt, we plan to show the greater public how a global corporation can cooperate in local and regional networks. The event will also feature interactive hi-tech exhibits and showcase environmentally friendly production methods. To top it off, German rock star Peter Maffay and his band will give an open-air concert to end the day on a festive note.

I hope you find this edition of DIALOG both entertaining and informative.

Prof. Hans Georg Näder
President and CEO, Otto Bock HealthCare