Icelandic owner unveils plan to invest £5.6m in R&D work at Touch Bionics

● Össur to spend heavily over three years ● Scottish Enterprise contributing £1.3m

Icelandic prosthetic technology firm Össur today announced plans to invest £5.6 million over the next three years to further develop innovative products at its Touch Bionics operation in Livingston.

The spending plans, which will see a number of new R&D jobs created at the artificial limb specialist which was acquired by Össur in a £27.5m deal in 2016, are being backed by £1.3m in grant funding from Scottish Enterprise.

The Scottish Government’s minister for business, innovation and energy Paul Wheelhouse, who visited the firm to see its progress, said Touch Bionics was a fantastic example of a Scottish business investing in innovation and increasing its international reach.

“Scotland has built a strong international reputation for innovation and the creation of high value jobs and our aspiration is to continue leading innovations in life sciences,” he said.

Hugh Gill, vice president of research & development for Touch Bionics, said support from Scottish Enterprise “had directly contributed to the transformation of upper limb prosthetics over the past decade”.

“The continuing support from both Scottish Enterprise and Össur has enabled Touch Bionics to continue accelerating the innovation of potentially breakthrough technologies, so we may help even more people with upper limb loss,” he added

Michael Cannon, head of innovation at Scottish Enterprise, said: “Össur’s decision to invest in this ground-breaking technology in Scotland is testament to the strength of its highly skilled and innovative workforce, manufacturing expertise and forward thinking, ambitious leadership team. Over the years, we’ve watched this successful company grow from strength to strength and I’m delighted to see it secure this important investment to help it continue to achieve its full growth potential in Scotland.”

During the visit, Wheelhouse met university student Patrick Kane, a torchbearer for the London 2012 Olympics, who wears an i-limb upper limb prosthesis produced by Touch Bionics.

Touch Bionics, which was founded in 2003, was the first company to be spun out of the NHS in Scotland. Its bionic hands and arms have now been fitted to thousands of people and the firm has around 120 employees with operations in Scotland, Germany, and the United States.

Össur, which is headquartered in Reykjavik, specialises in orthopaedic devices.