IN Brief:
- OEMs want thinner, lighter HMIs, but integration complexity keeps rising.
- TactoTek’s IMSE embeds electronics into 3D injection-moulded surfaces.
- A Michigan licensee adds local prototyping and low-volume build capacity.
TactoTek has signed a technology licensing agreement with Global Technology Ventures (GTV), extending North American capacity for In-Mold Structural Electronics (IMSE) programmes and giving design teams a local route from concept parts through tooling and low-volume production.
The agreement enables Farmington Hills, Michigan-based GTV to incorporate IMSE technology into customer programmes across sectors including automotive, aerospace, consumer products, and medical devices. TactoTek’s IMSE approach integrates electronic functions such as lighting, touch controls, and circuit structures into three-dimensional injection-moulded surfaces, shifting functionality into the part itself rather than adding it through separate assemblies.
The attraction is obvious to any engineer who has tried to package modern human-machine interfaces into shrinking envelopes. Conventional architectures often pile up components: decorative surfaces, light guides, PCBs, wiring, fasteners, and brackets. IMSE collapses some of that stack into a single moulded structure, which can reduce part count and assembly steps, while enabling curved, three-dimensional surfaces that would otherwise be difficult to build cleanly.
“GTV’s expertise in guiding programs from early development through production creates a strong foundation for applying IMSE in real-world programs successfully,” says Sami Hyyryläinen, Senior Vice President, Licensing, Strategic Sales and Markets Expansion at TactoTek.
For TactoTek, the model is ecosystem-driven: the company develops and licenses the technology rather than building a vertically integrated manufacturing footprint. The GTV agreement therefore matters less as a headline partnership and more as capacity placement. A local licence holder can shorten iteration loops for engineers who need to validate mechanical fit, surface quality, lighting uniformity, and touch performance in the same physical part, not across a bundle of separately sourced components.
GTV’s pitch is that it can support that work earlier in the development cycle, where a change in geometry or industrial design still feels cheap, and before programme teams have committed to high-volume tooling and a locked supply chain. That emphasis on prototyping and precision tooling aligns with IMSE’s practical demands: the embedded electronics must survive forming and moulding processes, maintain performance under thermal cycling and mechanical stress, and meet end-user durability expectations.
“IMSE adds a powerful new dimension to how we support our customers,” says Steve Willis, President of Global Technology Ventures. “It allows us to integrate intelligent functionality directly into molded structures early in development, when design choices matter most.”
TactoTek says the agreement expands the IMSE ecosystem in North America by giving customers access to local IMSE know-how and a streamlined development pathway. The commercial test will be how quickly that pathway translates into nominated programmes and repeatable manufacturing flows, particularly in automotive applications where surface finish, reliability, and supply assurance are non-negotiable.
