FULL SPEED AHEAD. We at Ossur are spurred on by ambition, one of the many traits within our company culture. Our vision for the future is clear. Our rise to leadership within the prosthetic industry serves as motivation towards the Company’s transformation and it is obvious that those who contribute have to do their utmost every step of the way.

We are confident that we will accomplish what we have set out to do. We intend to maintain our technical leadership, achieve sales and operational cost leadership, continue consolidating through acquisitions, maintain our profitability, ensure a positive customer experience, and further the Ossur culture.

Following numerous acquisitions in 2005 and 2006, we have focused on optimizing our bracing and supports sales efforts, and strengthening our infrastructure and brand awareness within the areas of orthopaedics where we are active. We have used the year to further restructure and consolidate our organization to be better prepared for the changes we envision and to fully leverage the synergies from past acquisitions.

Ossur operates within the healthcare sector which has limited sensitivity to economic fluctuations. Our operational environment is rather stable and therefore the negative developments in the financial markets last year did not have any significant impact on the underlying business of the Company.

We think of ourselves as innovation leaders. We strive to eliminate the physical limitations caused by certain disabilities and make the technology available to a larger group of people. Our design teams listen to the market demands and utilize their expertise to deliver products that fulfill the expectations of our partners, customers, and users.

We opened the Ossur Asia office in Shanghai in 2006. During that first year, our Asian team started building relationships and market knowledge and we will continue to build on the vast opportunities that are open to us there. It was a great personal pleasure for me to meet our many partners in China during the Ossur Asia inauguration ceremony last October.

I am looking forward to the Paralympic year of 2008. Ossur supports teams and athletes all over the world and I follow and admire their many achievements. I have known some of the athletes since their childhood, like athlete Rudy Garcia-Tolson. Even as a small boy, Rudy set his mind on making the U.S. Paralympic Team. His spirit and optimism is a source of endless inspiration for everyone who has ever met him.

For example last year, Rudy broke his own world record at the U.S. Paralympic Open Swimming Championships. His journey is one of the many I will be following at the Paralympics in China with great interest. Another extraordinary young athlete is Oscar Pistorius, who, on his two carbon fiber feet, has challenged the frontiers dividing disabled and able-bodied. Oscar's dream is to compete in the Olympics. Despite the recent ruling by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) banning him from competing along side able-bodied athletes in IAAF events, Ossur will continue to support Oscar's bid for equality.

Our work has, much like in previous years, not gone unnoticed in 2007 by a wide audience. In November, Forbes Magazine featured Ossur in an article focusing on the Company's rapid growth and future product development in the area of functional bracing. Our PROPRIO FOOT won the 2007 Gold Medical Design Excellence Award and Ossur Investor Relations won the Nordic IR Awards for the fourth time. Among the many awards and recognition we received this year, was the result of a study by the Mayo Clinic which found two of Ossur's trauma products, the Miami J and Philadelphia Collars, superior in immobilization and reduction of pressure.

Being recognized for our work in this way makes us even more determined to further improve our products and people's mobility.

Being recognized for our technological advances is both rewarding and inspiring, for this is only the start of a new era in orthopaedic design and functionality. Rest assured, Ossur intends to continue to lead the way with innovative solutions that enable people to live a life without limitations.

Jon Sigurdsson
President & CEO

Download Ossur 2007 Annual Report

PDF format, 2.9MB, 100Pages.

Strategy - MAIN FOCUS AREAS 2008

INNOVATION
Ossur is the technical leader in the prosthetic industry and invests a record portion of sales in research and
development. The Company sees value potential in the bracing and support sector and will leverage its current high-tech platform and material expertise in prosthetics to energize innovation in that segment.

ACQUISITIONS
Ossur aims to achieve its ambitious growth goals through a combination of strong organic growth while simultaneously growing through strategic acquisitions.

COST LEADERSHIP
Ossur is constantly aiming for increased efficiency in operations and will continue to seek opportunities for
further optimization of manufacturing.

OSSUR CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
Ossur’s objective is to offer a high level of service, create close relationships with customers by offering
value added services and del iver high quality customer education.

PROFITABILITY
Ossur aims at increasing profitability of its sales units by utilizing synergy possibilities from previous acquisitions and further increase efficiency of the Company.

OSSUR CULTURE
Ossur believes it nourishes its culture by recruiting, training, motivating and rewarding ambitious employees who challenge themselves to find more effective ways of achieving Ossur goals.

Visit Ossur Official Website

About Ossur:

Ossur is in the business of improving people’s mobility. A leading global company in non-invasive orthopaedics, we deliver advanced and innovative technologies within the fields of prosthetics, braces, supports and compression therapy.

Determined to restore maximum biological function to those in need, Ossur has more than thirty years’ experience in the design and production of high-tech orthopaedic devices. Our newest platform is Bionic Technology by Ossur - a precise fusion of artificial intelligence and human physiology that is transforming the technological landscape.

Our work, however, is as much about people as it is about products. Their comfort, confidence and rehabilitation are central to our endeavors. We never forget that every time we develop a product or service, we are helping someone else to build a better life. What better business to be in.

Bionic Technology Platform

This platform focuses on restoring the anatomical function displaced by amputation by using intelligent structures in products that can respond in a human-like way. Its award-winning products are:

• RHEO KNEE®, the world’s first microprocessor swing and stance knee system to utilize the power of artificial intelligence.
• POWER KNEE™, that works as an integrated extension of its user, synchronizing motion with that of the sound leg using motor power.
• PROPRIO FOOT®, the world’s first intelligent and motor-powered foot module.

Awards and accolades

    * 2004 – RHEO KNEE® featured in TIME Magazine’s "Coolest Inventions of 2004"
    * 2004 – RHEO KNEE® included in Fortune magazine’s "25 Best Products of 2004"
    * 2004 – Ossur named "One of the smartest companies in the world"[1] by Business 2.0 magazine
    * 2005 – Ossur's POWER KNEE™ wins Popular Science magazine’s "Best of What's New" Award in the Personal Health category
    * 2005 – For the fourth time, Ossur places high on the list of Europe's fastest growing companies, according to Europe's 500 Entrepreneurs for Growth Index, supported by Microsoft and KPMG
    * 2005 – Hugh Herr, director of the Biomechatronics Group at The MIT Media Lab, and co-inventor of Ossur's RHEO KNEE®, receives Popular Mechanics magazine’s highest recognition, the Breakthrough Leadership Award
    * 2005 – RHEO KNEE® wins the Frost & Sullivan Technology of the Year Award
    * 2005 – Ossur's Bionic line wins the Medical Marketing Association’s Gold International Award for best branding/corporate identity of the year
    * 2005 – RHEO KNEE® listed in Technology Review magazine’s "Top 10 Emerging Trends"
    * 2006 - New York Times' Science Illustrated publishes both a print article and an interactive graphic online: "Electronic Brain in an Artificial Foot," [2] to demonstrate the features and benefits of the PROPRIO FOOT®
    * 2006 – PROPRIO FOOT® wins Popular Science magazine’s “Best of “What's New" Award in the Personal Health category. (Ossur’s second consecutive win.)
    * 2006 – Ossur receives Frost & Sullivan 2006 Technology Innovation of the Year Award for Bionic Technology by Ossur product platform which includes the RHEO KNEE®, POWER KNEE™ and PROPRIO FOOT®. (Ossur’s second consecutive win.)
    * 2006 – Ossur wins Investor Relations Award
    * 2006 – Ossur poster series and bionic packaging each win Medical Marketing Association's 2006 Bronze International Award.
    * 2006 – Ossur selected as a 2006 Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum, and participated in the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
    * 2006 – For the fifth time, Ossur places high on the list of Europe's fastest growing companies.
    * 2007 – PROPRIO FOOT® awarded with a Unique Innovation Award at the ninth international ORPROTEC tradeshow in Valencia, Spain
    * 2007 – RHEO KNEE® wins named as one of the six top products recognized by the Czech Ministry of Health
    * 2007 – PROPRIO FOOT® wins the Da Vinci Award
    * 2007 – PROPRIO FOOT® wins Medical Design Excellence Award
    * 2007 – Ossur‘s Vice President of Research & Development, Dr. Hilmar Janusson, named by BusinessWeek as one of the “Top Ten Cutting Edge Designers” of the Year
    * 2007 – PROPRIO FOOT® nominated for the Icelandic Visual Arts Award for its exceptional design
    * 2007 – Ossur wins Investor Relations Award
    * 2008 - Inventor of Ossur‘s Flex-Foot®, Van Philips, nominated for the European Patent Office‘s European Inventor of the Year Award

Team Ossur

Team Ossur comprises elite international athletes and sporting role models, along with gifted performers and professionals from around the world who use Ossur prosthetics. Under this program, Ossur is a major sponsor of disabled athletes, many of whom are Paralympic medalists and world record holders in their sports.

Some of the most notable are:

• Oscar Pistorius, the South African double-amputee who has made headlines by challenging the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) to allow him to compete against able-bodied athletes in the Olympics. He is the world record holder in his category for the 100, 200 and 400 meters sprints. TIME Magazine has named him one of the 2008’s “100 Most Influential People.”
• Marlon Shirley, who lost one foot, is the fastest amputee in the world and also jumps farther than any other amputee. He is a four-time world champion, two-time Paralympic gold medalist and multiple world record holder.
• Sarah Reinertsen, the first amputee to be featured on the cover of Runner magazine, and the first woman with one leg to finish the Hawaiian Ironman Triathlon. She has also completed multiple marathons and was a contestant on The Amazing Race television show.
• Brian Frasure, is a veteran of disabled athletics, who has been breaking records since 1996 and has medaled in two Paralympics. He is now a certified prosthetist and mentor to Oscar Pistorius.
• Rudy Garcia-Tolson is a double-amputee who has broken world swimming records. He’s been featured in People magazines “20 teens who will change the world” and has appeared on Oprah.
• Mike McNaughton, who lost his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan. Awarded a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart, he was featured in the press when he ran on the White House Grounds with President Bush on his prosthetic leg.

(From wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

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