日本語 
Industrial giants are no longer waiting for innovation to knock. They are going out and buying optionality.
DIC Corporation has set up a 62-million-dollar investment portfolio focused on the fast growing Physical AI space. This covers technologies such as sensors, wearables, robotics, and automation. Alongside this move, DIC has entered a strategic partnership with Emerald Technology Ventures, a Switzerland based venture capital firm with deep roots in industrial tech across Europe and North America.
The idea is straightforward. Use Emerald’s sourcing network and investment experience to back startups globally and turn that into real business creation. This is not a passive allocation. DIC plans to begin full scale startup investments and collaborations under this platform.
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To anchor the effort, DIC will establish a startup investment management subsidiary in Zurich in spring 2026. Zurich serves as one of Europe’s most important deep tech centers because it has established strong research ecosystems which support both artificial intelligence and robotics and advanced materials development. The presence of Emerald in the same city as our organization helps us achieve better coordination and enhanced deal flow while we execute our shared projects.
Physical AI is not abstract software. It is about systems that sense, interpret, and act in the real world through robotics and algorithms. For DIC, whose core strength lies in materials science, this is adjacent territory with scale potential.
The initiative also ties into DIC’s Direct to Society framework, which focuses on translating future societal needs into commercial solutions. Over the next five years, the company aims to build a diversified portfolio of startups, creating long term strategic options while helping these ventures scale.
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