Several technology trends are coming together – digitally printed conductive inks, conductive adhesives for pick’n’place machines, ultra small LEDs and other electronic components – to make injection-molded structural electronics very interesting for the lighting industry.  The immediate application is obviously high-volume components like light engines or control interfaces, due to the fixed and expensive tooling associated with injection molding.  But the basic technologies show the way for non-injection molded parts, such as those produced in a digital roll-to-roll flat fabrication process.  Such a flat process would open the door to large architectural surfaces with the electronics inherently embedded into the material.  A side benefit for the lighting industry of this type of assembly is that the layers are molded together, inherently creating a hermetically sealed unit that simplifies weather-rated components.

TactoTek creates injection-molded structural electronics that integrate flexible printed circuitry and discrete electronic components into mass-produced 3D injection-molded plastics. TactoTek encapsulates electronics and circuitry in injection-molded plastics, so the resulting products are inherently durable and protected from the environment.
Founded in 2011, TactoTek is based in Oulu, Finland.