TactoTek (Oulu / Finland; www.tactotek.com), a developer of injection moulded structural electronics ("IMSE") solutions, said it has granted manufacturing licensing rights to Nanogate (Göttelborn / Germany; www.nanogate.com), a specialist for high-tech surfaces and components. TactoTek CEO Jussi Harvela said Nanogate is "an established system provider for innovative and premier surfaces" for markets including the automotive, home appliances and industrial segments.

The German company expects to be ready for IMSE mass production by the end of 2019. Its first IMSE production facility is in Austria, where it has expertise in in-mould labelling (IML) parts for automotive customers. Nanogate has six factories in Germany as well as four more in Austria, the Netherlands, Slovakia and Ohio / USA. It has a comprehensive portfolio of surface technologies and expertise in metallisation using physical vapour deposition (PVD) processes.

In December 2018, automotive technology supplier Faurecia (Nanterre / France; www.faurecia.com) also signed a licensing agreement with TactoTek, to manufacture IMSE solutions for its automotive customers. At that time, Faurecia said it was "investing persistently" in "plastronics" – which is the integration of electronic functions into plastics and decorative surfaces.