The Loss Prevention Research Council (LPRC) has announced its plans to relocate its formerly named Research Lab by mid-March 2020. The mock store environment contains more than 100 technologies that aid in combating theft, fraud, and violence in the retail setting.

The Research Lab will be known as the Engagement Lab moving forward. This change accurately reflects how members will connect with the mock store. Retailers will be able to engage with the cutting-edge technology from LPRC’s solution partners and the interactive kiosks used to explore the research organization’s theories and methodologies.

The newly dubbed Engagement Lab will be moving across the street, into the UF Innovation Hub, where the LPRC NextRetail Research Center (NRC) currently resides. As one of the main components of the NRC and the LPRC’s research process, the Engagement Lab will be physically connected to the other spaces that make up the NRC: the Ideation, Simulation, and Activation Lab. The proximity of the LPRC’s labs to one another will be key in increasing the speed and quality in which the LPRC team conducts its research.

“We are very excited to have the entirety of the LPRC under one roof,” says LPRC Director and University of Florida Research Scientist Dr. Read Hayes. “This move will improve the flow of our research, increase the efficacy of our team, and allow our members to witness our research process in one central location.”