Indiana or Bust

Southern California has been dealt what might be termed a modest setback: the transfer of the Technology Transfer Society to snowier climes. The society, a professional association of about 600 scientists and others who are interested in the transfer of technology, says it was “lured” from Beverly Hills to Indianapolis by government and business leaders in Indiana.

It’s not the sort of thing that will knock the Southland economy for a loop. With a staff of 1.5 persons (a full-timer and a part-timer) and a budget in the $60,000 range, the organization mainly holds seminars, operates a referral service and publishes a newsletter.

Founded in Los Angeles in 1975 by members of the aerospace industry, the society still relies on California for about a fourth of its members. But the naming of a new, Indiana-based executive director and the fact that the state of Indiana agreed to pay for the relocation of its office, including a 200-volume library, argued in favor of the transfer.

Vid Beldavs, a former Cummins Engine Co. executive who now heads the society, said there is a “huge pool of potential members” in the industrial Midwest as that part of the nation evolves into a technology-based economy and automates its factories.

“Our job is to be a catalyst for change,” Beldavs said.

California still figures big in the transfer society’s plans, he added. The Los Angeles chapter is an active one, and the society’s board meeting will be held here early next year, according to Beldavs.