£2m vote of confidence in nurturing digital

Feb 25 2009 by Iain Laing, The Journal

TWO inspirational business initiatives that support the growth of the North East’s burgeoning digital cluster have received a welcome boost with the addition of nearly £2m of funding.

Codeworks Connect, the trade association for digital companies in North East England, and Codeworks GameHorizon, a collaborative network of video games companies, have secured investment from One North East to increase their membership further, open up trading opportunities and support more than 500 businesses by 2011.

Some £985,000 of the development agency’s Single Programme money has been matched by the European Regional Development Fund 2007-13, which is focusing its resources on innovation, business growth and enterprise. The project will also contribute to Sunderland Software City’s drive to develop the software sub-sector cluster. The total project investment will be £1.97m.

Codeworks CEO Herb Kim said: “This investment will allow us to continue to expand our membership and provide a larger forum for businesses to network, share software knowledge and collaborate with other SMEs within the industry.

“The North East is home to strong digital and video games sectors, and this funding will enable us to continue providing them with welcome support to help them further grow and succeed.”