THE LAST couple of months have been a whirlwind of activity and curated chaos at Codeworks.

This summer, we’ve worked with the Hub Gateshead to produce the 2011 edition of the Gateshead Digital Summer, which included a series of events and conferences including Go Go Games, Thinking Digital, DIBI Web Conference, GameHorizon Conference and TEDxGateshead.

The final event is next week and is our annual Summer Net Together party for members of Codeworks Connect and the Hub Gateshead.

Despite worries about weakness in the regional economy, Gateshead Digital Summer has been another great success, bringing speakers and delegates to North East England from all over the UK and the world – once again putting the region firmly on the map when it comes to the digital and creative industry.

The success of conferences such as Thinking Digital and DIBI were important to Codeworks in more ways than one this year. With One North East phasing out, we lobbied ONE and central government that Codeworks was healthy enough to be made a self-sufficient entity. Our summer conferences would be the first and only test we would get to prove the company could be left in the management’s hands.

I can tell you that it wasn’t easy. After years of cultivating our talent we had to say goodbye to a number of great people who have supported the North East digital and creative sector for years. For the employees we could keep on, they were asked to do a lot more with a lot less. We had to produce world-class levels of quality but with far fewer resources against a backdrop of huge change, uncertainty and a weak economy.

The team not only met expectations but exceeded them on all fronts from customer satisfaction through to profit. Our better than expected results has given One North East and our own board full confidence that Codeworks is now a fully sustainable entity that can survive and even thrive without ONE funding. We’ll soon become independent of ONE and we have their full support on this. While our public sector link will be dissolved, we will remain a not-for-profit private company proudly pursuing our original mission of supporting and promoting the digital and creative sectors of North East England.

With the future secure and bright, we now move to build on the great work done around our industry networks – Codeworks Connect and GameHorizon.

Our first few steps into this frontier have been tough and stressful, but very rewarding. We’re looking forward to building the new Codeworks.

:: Herb Kim is CEO of Codeworks and founder of the Thinking Digital conference