Novares Venture Capital Fund has invested in Quad Industries, a company specialised in printed flexible electronics.
The supplier said the acquisition would help Novares Group to "develop new systems with intuitive intelligent interfaces for all passengers".Quad Industries is Belgian with a factory in Slovakia, working on applied electronics.
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It specialises in user interfaces and control panels for both consumer and industrial applications.
In recent years, the company has expanded into printed electronics, with the development and production of printed, flexible sensors.
Novares and Quad Industries had signed a joint development agreement in May 2018 and are collaborating on advanced user experience projects within Novares' open innovation lab, the Nova Car. Quad technology is used in the 'Touch'N Play' concept incorporated in the Nova Car #1 demo.
The pair plan intuitive intelligent interfaces using 3D shaped electronics for Nova Car #2 which will be revealed on 25 June, 2019 in Paris.
Future co-developments include Quad technology for proximity sensing, gesture control, vital signs monitoring or stretchable sensors.
Arne Casteleyn, Quad co-CEO and sales director, said: "Novares brings the needed know-how to integrate our technologies into automotive components and systems."
Novares Venture Capital was started in February 2018 to build a startup ecosystem in fields adding value to group products such as smart surfaces.
Novares has its own R&D but is also establishing "a pool of key technologies in open innovation to co-develop and offer disruptive systems and solutions that shift the way cars interact with passengers and their environment".
The capital unit invests in startups with which it develops long term partnerships.
It has previously invested in FlexEnable, APAG CoSyst and Actronika.
