Digital Divide Data (DDD) inaugurated its new Solutions and Global Capability Center in Dehradun, India, on 10 September 2026. This milestone reflects DDD’s continued focus on technology, people, and meaningful social impact.
The inauguration brought together local stakeholders and the center’s first cohorts of associates to mark the opening.
DDD’s Founder Chairman Jeremy Hockenstein and CEO Sameer Raina joined the inauguration by video and spoke about DDD’s journey and priorities for the center. COO Steve Larson attended in person and delivered the keynote address.
Developing Specialized AI Data Capabilities
Artificial intelligence is moving beyond text-based applications into systems that must interpret, navigate, and act within the physical world. Training these systems requires carefully collected, accurately annotated, and rigorously evaluated data that reflects complex real-world environments.
- Data collection, curation, and annotation
- Multimodal data preparation
- AI model evaluation
- Large language model fine-tuning support
- Computer vision and sensor-data workflows
- Data development for low-resource languages
- Quality assurance for complex AI programs
Teams at the Dehradun center are already conducting egocentric data collection using virtual reality headsets, specialized cameras, and other equipment to capture human actions from a first-person perspective. The resulting datasets record details such as hand movement, object interaction, angle, grip, and pressure, helping models learn how people perform tasks in real-world environments.
Why DDD chose Dehradun
DDD selected Dehradun after evaluating several technology locations across India. The city offers a strong graduate talent pool, a well-established network of universities and technical institutions, and the potential to create advanced technology careers for people in Uttarakhand without requiring them to relocate to major metropolitan areas.
The center began operations in August with 150 colleagues already onboarded and is expected to scale to 800-1,000 technology roles.
Speaking to Financial Express B2B, Steve Larson described DDD’s layered workforce-development model. Recruits receive foundational instruction in AI and technical skills, followed by project-specific training in tools, workflows, and quality standards. The model allows DDD to recruit graduates based on aptitude and potential, then prepare them for specialized roles within the Physical AI ecosystem.
The Times of India reported the facility as Dehradun’s first Global Capability Center dedicated to AI and robotics, marking an important development for the city’s technology sector.
Extending a 25-year mission into the AI era
Founded in Cambodia in 2001, DDD pioneered impact sourcing, a model that connects commercial delivery with inclusive employment.
Over 25 years, DDD has expanded across Asia, Africa, and North America, supported more than 15,000 people, and evolved from content digitization into advanced data and AI services. Approximately 95 percent of those supported came from economically or socially underserved backgrounds.
The Dehradun center marks the next step in that mission: bringing the same commitment to opportunity and quality that began in Cambodia to a new generation of technologists building the future of physical AI.
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