The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has selected St. Joseph Engineering College (SJEC), Mangalore for establishing its Idea Development, Evaluation and Application (IDEA) Laboratory. SJEC is among five colleges selected in Karnataka for setting up the laboratory. The laboratory should have 5,000 sq.ft. area equipped with advanced machinery, tools, and mechanisms to support the translation of an idea to prototype development or solution of a problem. The duration of the project will be two years and the total cost for establishing the laboratory will be ₹1.10 crore out of which the AICTE will provide approximately 40% of the total project cost while the rest will have to be borne by the institute, including sponsorship from industry partners. Beyond two years, the institute is expected to spend another ₹40 lakh to sustain the laboratory. The IDEA Laboratory aims to encourage the students to apply science, technology, engineering and mathematics fundamentals towards enhanced hands-on experience, practical learning and product visualization. The aim is to make engineering students more imaginative and creative in addition to imbibing skills of critical thinking, problem-solving, design thinking, collaboration, communication and life-long learning.