Microsoft ImagineCup 2011 in New York City - The Kick-Off

Today Microsoft officially kicked off the ImagineCup Worldwide Finals in New York City. More than 100 teams are arriving from all over the world to showcase their projects that are solving the world's most complicated problems.

The registration hall is already filled with guests, competitors and press, that are eager to find out more about all the innovative creations present here. This year, the number of competitions is impressive, some of them new, others - being a part of the event for quite a while. These are:

• Software Design
• Game Design
• Embedded Development
• Digital Media
• Windows Phone 7

There is also a number of challenges that were a major part of ImagineCup this year, where competitors were able to shine their individual skills rather than team contributions. These challenges are:

• IT Challenge
• Interoperability Challenge
• Windows 7 Touch Challenge
• Orchard Challenge

This year's coverage is provided by the MSP Social Media Team - a group of 25 Microsoft Student Partners that will be providing stories about teams assigned to them. In my case, stay tuned for information about the following teams:

Also, stay tunned for official ImagineCup communication channels, where the information goes live as the event progresses:

• Twitter
• YouTube
• Flickr
• Facebook

Don't forget that as we are covering the event, you can still vote for teams in the People's Choice Award.