Thin Film Electronics ASA (Thinfilm) has entered into an agreement with an unnamed pharmaceutical company to create a near-field communication (NFC) OpenSense platform for medical devices in order to improve patient adherence and enhance communication between patients and caregivers.

Thinfilm makes smart tags that are embedded in devices for wireless tracking, authentication, and data processing purposes. NFC, with roots tracing back to RFID, is a form of contactless communication between devices like smartphones or tablets.

The NFC platform can maintain interoperability between Bluetooth and other wireless communication methods, create a radio frequency current that communicates with an NFC compatible device or small NFC tag, and allows a user to wave a smartphone over a compatible device to send information without needing to touch the devices together or go through multiple steps setting up a connection. 

“Lack of compliance among patients is a critical issue globally,” Davor Sutija, Thinfilm CEO, said in a press statement, adding that the company aims to address that issue by making medical devices smart and helping caregivers improve patient outcomes through the NFC OpenSense platform. 

Thinfilm, a publicly listed Norwegian company with headquarters in Oslo, Norway, develops printed electronics, including systems that include memory, sensing, display, and wireless communication. It maintains product development and production operations in San Jose, CA and Linköping, Sweden.

Earlier in the year the company completed its first pilot order delivery of NFC OpenSense tags with ferrite shields, which enable NFC technology to function properly when placed on packaging that contains metal or foil.