DDI is a newly established Incubation Centre for nurturing and empowering the next generation of innovators, inventors and technopreneurs to produce spinoffs for addressing pressing socio-economic challenges in Sub-Saharan Africa. The DDI Centre focuses on Food and Nutrition Security as well as other pressing developmental issues in the region.

The Centre is hosted by the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology (NM-AIST), based in Arusha, Tanzania, through the African Centre for Research, Agricultural Advancement, Teaching Excellence and Sustainability (CREATES). DDI is one of the four regional incubation centres seed-funded by the Inter-Universities Council for East Africa (IUCEA) to upscale regional innovations to a commercialization stage through relevant stakeholder and investors engagement.